Three months later I set out for Clermont-Ferrand and a date with my cheese-destiny. Crazy thoughts filled my head: would my ‘Long-Lost Love Cheese’ have changed? Would that distinctive taste and look be the same as the memory buried in my sub-conscious?
Corinne had arranged lunch at La Fromagerie Nivesse. She laughed at my nervousness. It felt like a first date. The waiter fussed around, recommending a local wine. I couldn’t sit still. I pushed past the queue of hungry customers to look at the vast counters of cheeses, trying to spot ‘her’…I felt overwhelmed by the dozens and dozens of products…but, then, there in the corner by the door, nearest to where we were sitting, almost as if ‘she’ was wanting me to see ‘her’ first, was my ‘Long-Lost Love Cheese’. There was no mistaking the soft angle of ‘her’ flanks, the delicate pale crust, outlined by darker dustings of ash, and the creamy skin. The hub-bub of the shop faded away as I bent over to gaze at this object of desire that had taken ten years to find.
Now to taste! Before us was a plate of charcuterie, fruit, bread, and a selection of six local cheeses. I only had eyes for one. I gently slid a slice onto a piece of bread, and, oh! The first eruption of pleasure at the creamy inside overwhelmed me. Then the velvety sensation of the crust dusted with a complex bite of ash followed. Every-thing I’d remembered came flooding back. A mouthful of wine, and then another slice. The emotion of the moment I had waited ten long years for held me. I savoured it to the full. “So, it is your cheese?” Corinne chuckled. No need to respond. My silly grin said it all.
“I have arranged for you to visit the farmer who makes your Love-Cheese” Corrine said, “He is expecting you this afternoon”.
It took a while to find La Côte Courtesserre. Forty minutes east of Clermont, the GPS got me to the general vicinity, but I couldn’t find it. So I did the commonsense thing and explored every lane, every track, every by-way, until eventually I spotted a field with a flock of goats.