Saint Nectaire

Thursday, May 17 and Friday, May 18 being off in France, I took the train Wednesday evening to my native region of Auvergne, located exactly in the center of the country to visit my uncle and aunt Patrick and Sylviane. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, so we drove to Saint Nectaire, a small commune (about 800 inhabitants) in the Puy de Dôme department. Cheese has been made in Auvergne since at least the 17th century. The Saint Nectaire cheese's name comes from the Marshal of Senneterre (a linguistic corruption of "Saint Nectaire"), who served it at the table of Louis XIV. The Marshal of Senneterre is also responsible for the introduction of other cheeses.

Saint-Nectaire is a pressed, uncooked cheese made from cow's milk, made from either pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. It is circular in shape, around 21 cm in diameter and 5 cm in height, and weighing around 1.7 kg. Around 15 litres of milk are required to make one cheese, and the final product is at least 45% fat as a percentage of dry matter. It is the first "farmer" AOC cheese (controlled designation of origin) in France with 6.000 tons produced each year.

France has a new President

Francois Hollande, 57 years old, is the 24th President of the French Republic. The first President was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (the nephew of Napoleon III), in 1848. In 1958, Charles De Gaulle proclamed the 5th Republic being its first President. Since this date, French socialist Francois Hollande is the 7th one, defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy after a hard fought campaign.
This evening, I went and helped the community I live in and voted, in the counting of the ballots. It was a close run with Francois Hollande being slightly ahead.

Camembert, France

The city entrance, one main road

Today Sunday, May 6th, my folks and I drove to the town of Camembert, France.  It is most famous as the place where the camembert cheese originated back in 1791 by Marie Harel. Camembert has been called "The largest small village in France." Not only does it only count 200 inhabitants, but this is because the area of the commune itself is out of proportion to the center of the village which consists of the Cheese Museum (in the shape of a Camembert cheese), the Town Hall, the Church of St Anne, the Ferme Président (a museum), Beamoncel (the house where Marie Harel, the creator of camembert cheese lived) and 3 other small houses. The rest of the commune is scattered over 2,500 acres. The entrance fee of the small museum also included a cheese tasting, 3 different camemberts.