un petit French Inspired lunch

I had such a fantastic lunch today! A spur of the moment trip with Leah to the local market provided some French inspired cuisine. Leah, who spent a good chunk of last year in France had the brilliant idea to dine on cheese. We pretty much did exactly that.

The cheese selection was ginormous, but we narrowed it down to two fabulous varieties: Triple Cream (from Quebec) and 10 year old Cheddar (Canadian Cheddar). Yes, you read that right, 10 year old cheese. How in the world they make it taste so good, I will never know.

The oldest cheese I had tried before today was about 6 years old. (I prefer the aged cheddar, so that is what I stick to most of the time.) Anyone who has tried it can testify to its bold flavor. We were both very excited to try the 10 year old variety, and were not disappointed. I believe the first thing I said after putting the cheese in my mouth was, "Oh my gosh! It's sooooo good."

It really was.

Some of the comments made regarding the cheddar were:
"Its like an explosion of flavor!"
"I have never tasted the care and time that went into making cheese before now!"
"Everything good about cheddar is just cranked up to a whole new level."
"I can never go back to the mild cheese now."

As for the Quebec cheese, Triple Cream, it was actually just as tasty, but in a different way. Triple cream is, as its name suggests, creamy. Leah said it tasted like a really soft, whipped, much tastier butter. You get the feeling that you are eating a soft cream cheese, but the delicate flavor is not heavy. On the contrary, you can savor it like any hard cheese. It won't melt away like butter, and it doesn't feel heavy like cream cheese. It is also comparable to Camembert and Brie.

Some of the commentary for Triple Cream:
"Sooo good."
"That big chunk we had? (About the size of a deck of cards) That would be enough for maybe 3 or 4 bites in France."
"It's such a delicate flavor."

But of course (wo)man cannot live on cheese alone! No sir.

To go with our cheese we bought 2 ciabatta buns, red grapes (which were the perfect fruit to munch between bites of cheese), AND a pot of Scottish Breakfast tea. I guess the tea was not quite consistent with the theme, but it was calling our names anyway!

If you have never had a French style lunch before (I hadn't), you should try it the next time you have three hours to spare. You can't do it in any less time and actually be authentic;)

Images courtesy of http://www.igourmet.com/images/productsLG/150delicedargental.jpg and http://www.visitingdc.com/paris/eiffel-tower-paris-france.asp