The glorious and luxurious days of eating different cheeses are over now that I am back in the land of feta cheese. But I made sure I brought enough cheeses to last till my next visit to France. 3kg of cheese….how would I survive with that? The shopping for care package was rushed as the day before my departure was May Day.

Photo featuring wines I drank on the evening of my farewell dinner
and lily was a gift from guests from the raclette party (video).

Photo featuring wine bottles and a big bunch of Lilac.
Love the violet colour and the scent

The night before I worried myself sick about getting through the customs safely with the cheese, and on the way to the airport, the smell of raw milk camembert and valencay cheese was stinking the car, making me even more anxious. I got the first orange light flashing at the airport when the check-in staff asked, sniffing and frowning, if I had cheese in my luggage; I felt as if I were smuggling illicit drugs.

I said, “Yes.” with innocent smiles. Luckily, she gave me a cold smile – maybe she doesn’t like raw milk cheese – and let me go. I was actually amazed by the number of cheeses made with pasteurised milk at the supermarket where I shopped for cheese.

Saulzais (white) is a soft brebis cheese with fruity and yoghurty tanginees whereas Palet des Gors is soft and fresh chevre with nutty flavour. I liked Saulzais more. If you want to know more about French cheeses, go here. As raw milk cheese is a living thing, it needs to breathe and age out of the fridge like this.

It will get mouldier and mouldier, and tastier and tastier (photo: La Gayrie). Bacteria and yeast are fascinating and that is why I love sourdough bread, cheese and wine. The first thing I did when I got back to Istanbul was to buy real sourdough bread at Carrefour and to taste bitter almond cookies, Aci Badem, which happened to be a gaint size instead of macaron size.

At the supermarket, I also found Magret de Carnard!! Frozen, 9 Euro….doesn’t sound too bad for Miss Desperate Foodie. I think I will continue on the story of my farewell dinner and the best wine I’d drunk in my life in the next post. WordPress keeps telling me, “The most viewed posts are short.” Is it true?