Escargot

Reason I was afraid to order escargot at first....

Pardon..errr..excuse me

Twice now, I've said, "pardon" when I bumped into someone.  It is just a involuntary reaction now.   In France you use pardon when you accidently bump into or when you need to get off a packed metro.  And then of course you use it when you purposely bump into someone because they didn't feel like moving to allow you to exit the metro, so your only choice is to shove your way through.

Smelly Cheese

I found Comte at BJs and that was the highlight of my week.    I almost screamed when I saw it.  I obviously don't do a lot of shopping at BJs.  I was so happy because Comte is my favorite French cheese.  I brought it home and immediately went to open it.  Whenever I buy Brie here it tastes disgusting.  It is overripe causing one to taste and smell ammonia.  I bought Camembert a couple weeks ago at Stop & Shop and had a better experience.  I managed to eat half of it before I couldn't take anymore of the less obvious ammonia taste.  I don't know what happens to Comte when it is overripe, but I knew that it never had a strong smell.  I open it, sniff it and start swearing at America for always ruining french cheese somewhere between France and the supermarket.  Sure it smelled like Comte should but by X10 giving it a quite unpleasant smell.  I tasted it and that's when America redeemed herself for the moment.  It actually tasted right.

Comte is made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Franche-Comte region.  It is a semi-hard cheese and I think it is pretty mild compared to other french cheese.