I have been far and busy for a while. I have a new, almost-job that I like and absorb most of my time. The best part about this story is that is a food job that enables me to see places, meet producers and taste new amazing products. The worst part? I haven't found it, yet.
I've been to Genova for Slow Fish 2011, where I spent my time between interviews with fishermen and wine tastings, chats with chefs and workshops about neglected fishes.
It has been stimulating and interesting, facetious and serious, tasty and light. I have still in mind the flavor of lobster from the Netherlands or of fried masculina from Sicily. I am still thinking about the words a fisherman from Marche saying that the reason for him to keep fishing is seeing the sun popping out of the see horizon at dawn. Priceless.
It has been stimulating and interesting, facetious and serious, tasty and light. I have still in mind the flavor of lobster from the Netherlands or of fried masculina from Sicily. I am still thinking about the words a fisherman from Marche saying that the reason for him to keep fishing is seeing the sun popping out of the see horizon at dawn. Priceless.
Last weekend was supposed to be awesome and adventurous, split between relax at my roomie's house in Provence and visits to goat cheese producers of the area. In four days we didn't have a full day of sun! It rained almost all the time, except when we walked in the fields and in the woods with goats.
On this side, we were pretty lucky. We visited a cheese producer from Provence making Brousse de Rove, a Slow Food Presidium. We walked for three hours through forests and pastures with the delightful company of a hundred Mesopotamian goats of all ages.
Pretty sweet and funny animals, indeed. His cheese, from raw milk, is fresh and tasty and is perfect for dessert, served with wild flowers honey from garrigue.
The other visit was further West, in the region of Languedoc, where Pelardon cheese is produced. It is still a raw goat milk cheese, but the Slow Food Presidium involves only the affiné type, i.e. the aged and pungent version of it, which is becoming harder and harder to find. In contrast, the fresh version is pretty easy to find, and is still pretty tasty. We didn't enjoy as long as a walk this time, but just a short promenade in the garrigues where our host uses to pasture his alpine goats.
Our escort, Pierre, was the most cheerful and funny kid I met in ages.
We ended with a nice, simple meal before getting back home. The rest of the time, was rain and indoor relax, except for a short escapade to Marseille and Aix en Provence both lovely, both on the next episode on this channel.
