Brebirousse d'Argental

The drizzle thankfully halted mid-morning in time for Bob, Mary, Helena and I to go to the Friday market in the Shambles in town. This market, sited next to the 'old Town Hall', has been running for at least three hundred years if not more, and is the reason why Stroud is called a market town. The modern Farmers Market which has become quite renowned in its own right, is actually on another nearby site on Saturdays.

I managed to have a valuable standing-in-the-middle-of-the-market sort of meeting with the Deputy Mayor, who is hopefully going to be elected Mayor of Stroud next week, when the Town council has its annual meeting. I may still be chair of the finance committee if I am elected by fellow councillors. We shall see.

Bob and Mary have been staying since Wednesday and are going to Oxford later today to meet Bob's daughter and his grandchildren, before heading home to the Isle of Wight after the weekend. It is always great to have them visit us and lots of great food has been consumed, particularly Bob and Mary's Coq au Vin on Wednesday evening. It is why I am glad I stopped being a vegetarian of thirty years standing, some while ago.

They also indulged us when today they bought this cheese from Ken, who has the regular cheese stall in his van, which always has perfectly ripe cheese from all over Europe. Bob saw this sheep's cheese and when I got back to the house they had prepared it as part of our lunch. He couldn't remember the name of it, so I suggested looking it up in my French Cheese book, but we couldn't work out which one it was. So then he turned to his iPad, searched and of course found it immediately by its picture - Brebirousse Argental.

I thought I would blip it before I polished off the last of it, which I proceeded to do, combining it with the olive and seed bread they also bought. It was so good, I will have to get some more another day.

from the search:
Brebirousse d'Argental is a pure sheep's milk brie-style cheese made in the Lyon region of France. Its bloomy white rind is edged in orange and when perfectly ripe will sink slightly around the perimeter. The flavor is milky with hints of meadow and not at all sheepish. The texture is creamy and velvety at its peak ripeness like most brie-style cheeses. Pair Brebirousse d'Argental with a nice dry white wine to cut through its richness.