14.03 - The Perfect Way to Discover France’s Cheesemaking Regions + Bandol, le Var, Provence, France + #bookclub
An exciting and action packed week! Today we're in love with Fromage Tours and taking a winter seaside walk in Provence. We're also reading in our French Book Club in ever greater numbers. Joining us?
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Chère amies, amis
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Merci. Judy - 27.1.24
Who’s today’s featured MyFrenchLife Magazine Contributor? - Emily Monaco
Emily introduces herself. “Born and raised in New York, I fell in love with France young and have been based in Paris for over 15 years. I am a professional freelance writer, tour guide, and cheese connoisseuse, as well as the host of Navigating the French and co-host of The Terroir Podcast. Follow me on Instagram and sign up for my newsletter for my favorite bites and more from Paris.” … and below is her most recent article on MyFrenchLife Magazine. Find her Contributor page with all her articles here.
1. Cheese Journeys: Perfect Way to Discover France’s Cheesemaking Regions by Emily Monaco
If the key to one’s heart is through their stomach, the key to France is undoubtedly through its cheese — at least as far as Anna Juhl of Cheese Journeys is concerned. The native Iowan’s luxury travel company takes a unique approach, introducing cheese lovers to some of Europe’s most exciting, enticing cheese regions since its inception, in 2013.
No matter which Cheese Journeys itinerary you choose, Juhl’s values of education, relaxation, and conviviality shine through palpably. Guests stay in a hand-selected château or villa, pampered by a team of hosts that may include Juhl, long-time cheese pro and tour director Jilly Sitch, or author Tenaya Darlington, perhaps better known as ‘Madame Fromage’.
Talented professional chefs travel with the group, serving up local cuisine on-site… at least on days when lunch isn’t included in that day’s excursion, perhaps the crème de la crème of the offer.
In Piedmont, guests explore the once-abandoned Italian ghost town revitalizing a nearly-lost mountain cheese.
In England, they may explore the manor home of Britain’s foremost cheddar maker.
And in France, they can delve deep into two of the country’s most beloved fromages: Comté and Brie
Brie is the closest thing Paris has to a local cheese, and this itinerary is the newest addition to the roster, joining the Cheese Journeys family just this year. Guests get a bit of both city and country on this tour, which juxtaposes days luxuriating in a 17th-century chateau overlooking the Seine, discovering the differences between local bloomy-rinded specialties, with afternoons getting a taste for the sheer variety of French cheeses available in the capital’s many cheese shops with help from expat experts.
The Alpine tour, meanwhile, affords visitors the opportunity to explore the bounty and landscapes of three closely linked but wholly distinct areas – Savoie, Jura, and Switzerland.
Over the course of this 11-day journey, not only do travelers get to know Comté, France’s best-selling and most-produced fromage by far, but they also get the chance to encounter lesser-known delicacies like Reblochon or Manigodine, a cheese made by just one producer and aged by artisan affineur Joseph Paccard.
The visit to this small local artisan is one of Juhl’s favorite stops on the trip.
I just have such a personal soft spot for the Alpine architecture and the terrain and the high Alps,” says Juhl, and Paccard, she says, is “just a gem of a guy.” “He really takes us into the caves, and we do a deep dive and try to understand what it’s like to work with these quality, small producers and what their mission is,” she says. “And we’re sitting up in the high Alps, you know, doing a tasting with him, and it’s just… paradise in every way.”
Juhl may be an expert on cheese travel now, but it was a long row to hoe.
Local knowledge creates unique experiences - What will 2024 bring for Cheese Journeys?
Juhl shows no signs of slowing down in her exploration of Europe’s cheese
Cheese Journeys Advises: retain your sense of humor
Juhl recalls an early trip to France with her husband and daughters, scouting and visiting cheesemakers near Roquefort, a fairly rural area where few spoke English.
We needed lunch, we pull into this little village,” she recalls; they found a local café and ordered the plat du jour. “But it just kept coming and coming,” she recalls. “We’d had steak-frites; we’d had salad. We’d had everything. The cheese course comes, and they bring a massive board of cheese, local
cheese, set it on the table, and you were expected …
Juhl continues with this amusing faux pas which you can read about on MyFrenchLife Magazine.
Are you a lover of Fromage? Have you had a Cheese Journey experience, yet? To read the entire article, you‘ll find it here.←
2. Other recent MyFrenchLife Magazine articles
Keep up to date with the new articles published on our Magazine.
Provence: A Walk to Bandol in Winter
“I am lucky to live right between Bandol & Sanary. If I walk to Bandol I walk by the beautiful open sea along the Baie de Bandol.” says Contributor Suzanne Vidal.
Walk with Suzanne as she’s drawn to the view of the sea beside her. ←
3. MyFrenchLife French Book Club #bookclub
This week our Book Club doubled in size!
Welcome to all new readers.
We’ve started reading our first 2024 book! And discussion is running through until late February
Here’s our first QUESTION/JOSEPHINE B.
Respond below or in our #bookclub groups as linked above.
For the members who may read 'The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.' with us:
Have you seen 'Napoleon' by Ridley Scott and if you have, what do you think of Vanessa Kirby as Josephine? (the costumes, her acting, good casting or not, can you think of another actress who would have been suitable for this role ?...) .
Are you in?
An online Discussion EVENT will be held in late February. My books haven’t arrived (french and English) if you’re in the same boat don’t worry we all have plenty of time.
Questions for the author
Jacqueline Dubois Pasquier (our book club facilitator) asked the author, Sandra Gulland if she’d agree to answer any questions we may have and she’s agreed. Do you have any questions yet?
Prefer to read in French or English?
This book was written in English but is available as a French translation if you’d prefer. I know that some of you like to read in French whenever possible. The French title is: ‘Vies et Secrets de Joséphine B.’
Note: Take Care as there are other similar titles also by author Sanda GullandHere’s where you can get the French translation:
- USA - ‘Vies et Secrets de Joséphine B.’ paperback available
- France - ‘Vies et Secrets de Joséphine B.’ available via FNAC and eBay
If you’d like to read this book with us or join our #bookclub, then leave us a message or send me an email, whichever you prefer.
4. Merci mille fois
What a week. I’m delighted.
The ‘MyFrenchLife French Book Club’ doubled in size and
I’ve been spending one-on-one time with MyFrenchLife Magazine Contributors, making videos for a soon-to-be-launched ‘Getting to Know the Storytellers’ video series. What a privilege to spend time getting to know them better and what a hoot. I’m having fun and they are too.
Also this week there’s been an influx of new subscribers, and that’s… well… rewarding. Thank you all for your support
You’re all very welcome!
Judy
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