Cheese of the Week: Valencay

 In two weeks time, we'll be taking our first trip to the Loire Valley. Peter's mom, Terumi, will be visiting us on her way to Switzerland and we all agreed that a little adventure would be fun. So, to prepare for our first time in the valley famous for its wines, cheeses and chateaux, we decided that our Cheese of the Week would be Valencay.

Valencay is a Loire Valley goat cheese. It has a subtle lemony flavor. It is not as creamy or soft as other goat cheeses we've tried, and each slice really stands on its own. We topped toasted baguette slices with this cheese at dinner last night, and it was delicious, especially as the cheese melted slightly from the warm toast. For those who aren't fans of "stinky cheeses", this one will probably suit all pallets. 

Valencay has a recognizable shape. Legend has it that after Napolean's campaign in Egypt failed miserably, he rode through France, stopping in Valencay. Seeing it's pyramid shaped cheese, he lopped the top of in fury, but then this cheese became one of his favorites. Another legend tells that the cheesemaker wanted to copy the shape of the local church steeple.

This cheese is made by allowing the curd to drain in a mold, giving it its shape. It is then rubbed with ash and allowed to ripen for 4 to 5 weeks. The result is a soft, blue/grey mold covering the outside of the cheese.

This cheese goes nicely with a crisp, dry white wine. We enjoyed it with this bottle of Bergerac wine, which at €3.50 a bottle, was a perfect wine pairing for the cheese and for our budget!

HEC MBA Tournament

In Peter's last post, he introduced the MBA Tournament that HEC hosted this weekend. The event went off without a hitch, and all 1500 students from MBA programs all over Europe competed with good sportsmanship and smiles on their faces. I was asked to lead one of HEC's three "Petanque" teams....and we won! Our first place trophy earned us 5 points for HEC's overall score. It was a good arm workout, lots of sun, and a lot of fun.

Peter's rugby team also had an exciting two days, including 5 games! Peter ended the weekend sore and tired but also proud of their victories.

 HEC's rugby team warming up before a game. 

After 3 days of competitions, 24 sports played by 1,500 students, the final announcement was made and....

HEC WON!!! 

MBA Tournament

I wish I got a chance to post on here more often, but I have been unusually busy and lets be honest, Caroline is a much better (and devoted) blogger than I am.  However, today I wanted to take some time to talk about what has been going on with me lately.

Currently, I have three major 'pillars' in my life as a student.  I am taking elective courses at HEC - 8 in total - focused mainly on marketing.  One of the most interesting classes I have is a class on marketing and strategy in luxury goods, which is taught by Vincent Bastien.  He is former CEO of Louis Vuitton and has basically 'written the book' on luxury marketing.  He has a wealth of interesting real life experience to share with us and while I do not have much interest in pursuing a career in luxury, it is extremely interesting to see how luxury strategies can be applied to almost every good or service you can imagine (and in most cases already have been).

Literally...he wrote the book

The second pillar is my new internship at a small French research firm.  I am working part-time as a consultant and it has been interesting to get experience at a French company.  Contrary to popular belief, they actually do work hard - the staff is generally in the office until 21:00 or later (thats right, I write in European time now) - and they generally eat lunch at their desks!  However, all the rumors about vacation are true.  The office is basically closed for the month of August and everyone is encouraged to use all of their vacation.  Unfortunately, I cannot say much about the work I am doing on the blog, but it has been interesting and I am enjoying it so far.

Finally, the third pillar of my life, and the topic of this blog, is the annual MBA Tournament (MBAT) that is held at HEC this weekend.  We are hosting 1,500 MBA students from around Europe for three days of sports (and parties).  I have been helping to organize the sports portion of this event since October and have been fully focused on it for the past 3 weeks.  Along with a number of my classmates, I have been working on preparing all 24 events that will be held on campus this weekend.  It has been a lot of work, but a rewarding experience and as is the case with most large projects, we are scrambling to finalize the details this week.  I am also playing rugby, which should be interesting.  I have not played in about 6 years and my body does not take (or give) punishment like it used to.  Even Caroline is getting involved and will be leading one of the HEC petanque teams.  Petanque is similar to the Italian game of Bocce and involves a bunch of people standing around drinking pastis and throwing balls around a dirt court (obviously there is more to it than that, but those are the essential details).

There is also an 'Official MBAT Video' that was created to market the event:

So there you have it.  Working on MBAT has been an interesting experience (and hopefully looks good on my resume), but I cannot wait for it to be over so I can have my life back and continue enjoying our new life in Paris.

Our New 'Hood....Paris 15eme

Anyone who has ever moved homes knows how hectic moving can be. Your stuff is in a million different places, you have to fall into new routines and arrange to pay new bills. However, the exciting part of moving to Paris, for us, has been exploring our new neighborhood! We live in the 15th arrondissement, which lies just south of the 7th which is where the Eiffel Tower stands.Our neighborhood is one part residential, one part funky and eclectic, and one part shopping district, being one block off the Rue du Commerce, aptly named for its wealth of clothing and shoe stores, as well as bakeries, cafes, fromageries (cheese stores) and butcher shops.

Our Front Door

Walking out of our apartment and around the corner you come to Rue du Commerce. This is Commerce Cafe, a cute place with lots of seats outside. Across the street is Eric Kayser, one of the best bakeries in Paris also selling delicious ice cream and pastries.

Across from the bakery is one of our 4 local metro stop. This one pops you out right next to a cute park.

Rue du Commerce is flanked on either end by a beautiful church, and by another metro line, which actually runs above ground. In between, there is everything you can imagine.

A fruit stand on Rue du Commerce

Nicolas is a favorite wine shop and is popular all over Paris. You can find many in every neighborhood!

Living near a Zara and H&M next to one another makes it very hard to get to the metro without wanting to stop for "just one minute..."

A set of the increasingly popular Velibs (free bikes that actually do cost one euro per 24 hours). At the end of the street, in the distance, you can see the above-ground metro stop La Motte Piquet-Grennelle which services lines 6, 8 and 10 and is very convenient no matter where we want to go!
Following the outdoor metro for 3 or 4 minutes brings you to the next metro stop on the 6 line, Cambronne, which drops us off right outside our new favorite bakery, Maison Privat, in the picture above with the white awning. You can see the Tour Montparnasse in the distance (Paris' only skyscraper).

Some of the goodies offered at Maison Privat

This metro stop is at a large circle, half on either side of the train line. Our half is home to Maison Privat (the bakery), a beautiful flower shop named "Happy" and a few cafes with lot of outdoor tables. We've only sampled one during a late breakfast on Sunday morning, and the bacon and eggs were perfect. We'll have to try them all and decide which will be our new local favorite.

Passing by this adorable cafe/bar, you have to think to yourself, "This place is almost just too French to be real..."

Turning south down Rue de la Croix Nivert brings us to the corner of Rue de l'Amiral Roussin. #50 is home to the bakery owned by Mohamed Zerzour who earned 9th place in this year's Paris-wide baguette contest! Of course I had to stop in and buy one for Peter and I to sample.
This bakery won first place in last year's competition and "best croissant in Paris" in 2009. We're lucky to have it just around the corner!

Continuing back in the direction of home brings us to a small cinema around the corner from a beautiful park called Square Saint Lambert.
We call this park "the beach" because people actually use it like their local beach, since we are many many miles from the actual ocean. Kids play badminton (without a net), women lie topless (so as to avoid tan lines, of course) and men sport bathing suits to soak up rays on nice days. We prefer to sit on the benches and try not to look, hiding our faces in our Kindles.

So there you have it: A whirlwind tour of our new neighborhood. It's home now, and we're really starting to love our own little corner of Paris.

Dans les Landes

On their final day in Paris, Karen and Scott had a few last sights to see together, so Liz, Tom, Peter and I stopped at a little tapas cafe I'd been dying to try. It's called Dans Les Landes, in the 5th arrondissement, and we all fell in love with it pretty quickly.

The Landes region, where the restaurant gets its name, is in Southwestern France, so the food served up here has a Southwestern flair.

Not only is this little restaurant clean, stylish but laidback, and friendly, the food was fantastic. I couldn't help snapping a few photos to commemorate our first (and certainly not our last) visit there.

Fried Polenta

Stuffed Mussels

Chicken Wings!

A French take on the Caesar Salad

Fried Calamari in a wooden shoe

Charcuterie

More Sightseeing with Guests

The rest of our week was spent exploring Paris with our friends.
Of course, this included a trip to the Eiffel Tower,

...a relaxing stop by the riverside,

...a visit to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur church,

...a stop at the Moulin Rouge,

...sampling various pork products, for which France is so famous,

....a view of Hotel des Invalides, where Napolean is buried,

...and a ride on the Bateaux Mouches tour boats down the river Seine!

All in all, we think we gave our first time visitors a good overall introduction to the City of Lights, and our old, faithful return-guests a few new sights to see.