Chêvre d'Argental

I've just back-blipped a shot for yesterday's journal.

We have had another busy twenty-four hours as P. and M. came up from Bristol to stay overnight yesterday. It is always great to see them and to have time to relax and enjoy food, wine and walks.

The walk yesterday was along the canal and then up Claypits Lane and into The Heavens' fields and woods. I took some pictures with a friend's wide-angle lens that I've borrowed especially to take the Preservation Trust photos on Saturday, so I wanted to practice and to check whether it would suffice, and it will.

I lit our first coal fire of the autumn last night which we all enjoyed after a big supper and a few drinks. We were all rather tired, but that didn't stop me staying up far too late attending to the preparation of photos for my Blipfolio of Westonbirt Arboretum. I have now aded a new gallery of them.

I have hurt my hip again, so I didn't feel like walking into town with them and Helena this morning. I prepared a big lunch of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for us all before they had to head off home.

Pip presented me with this wonderful cheese that he bought from 'Ken the Cheese', who brings his van to the Shambles market, in Stroud, on Fridays and Saturdays. He knows a lot about cheese buying and presentation, so that you can rely on high quality. I didn't manage the cheese identification test today, but it was perfectly ripe and went straight on the table. So before cooking the lunch, I took this picture in case it didn't survive to the end of the meal. Luckily some has, but it probably won't be here tomorrow. It is a goats cheese called Chêvre d'Argental, and comes from the Lyon area, towards the south of France.

I gather from online sources:
D'Argental is a relatively new innovation by the French fromage industry, as evidenced by its tidy, hexagonal shape - employed no doubt to set it apart from more conventional brie types. The unconventional aspect is the milk - pure, pasteurized goat. Centuries of experience have paid off in this case. The white, corrugated rind is uncommonly supple and tender. Not only does it avoid interfering with the luscious, whipped-to-runny texture of the interior, it actually adds an interesting texture contrast.

..... apparently it goes well with wines from the Sancerre appellation, which I also love, but can't afford anymore :o((