As a newbie, I had much to learn at work. It is not unusual to see me still typing away or poring over documents at my desk when most of my colleagues leave for the day. I miss wandering the streets of Paris leisurely on my way home, since I’m cutting it pretty close nowadays to be back in time to prepare dinner. Well, a girl (and her partner) has got to eat, you know.

When I received an invitation from Imogen of Native Native a couple of weeks ago, asking if I would like to participate in a wine and cheese tasting evening that she was organising, my inner foodie wiggled a happy dance. “Oh yes, please!” (My inner busy bee did nag a little…)

Native Native aims to bring expat bloggers together for tailored events that introduce what’s new and innovative in France. For its June blogger event, it had partnered up with Les Nouveaux Fromagers and took us to the gorgeous tasting room of Ô-Chateau. F was just that bit envious when I told him about this tasting evening. I love cheeses and (certain) wines, but he’s an even bigger fan of these (proof: he’s 100% French) than me!

The innovational focus of the evening was Les Nouveaux Fromagers, which has a simple concept: subcription-based cheese box. Each month, for the reasonable price of €19.90, plus shipping where applicable, the subscriber can expect a box filled with four cheeses which had been carefully selected. Some of these are not even cheeses one find easily, as they are sourced from small producers with limited production.

For June, the cheese box was themed Fromage et Confit: l’union fait la force! and cheeses aside, it came with an additional jar of fig and olive confit from Fauchon. This confit went so beautifully with the Fleuron des Gachons and the Sainte-Maure de Touraine, and tasted pretty good with the Tommette de Savoie and the Tommette de Vezou too. Four new cheeses to taste in one evening: I was happy as Larry.

We were guided through the tasting by Olivier from Les Nouveaux Fromagers, indicating the order of tasting (from the mildest to the strongest) and entertaining us too with cheese anecdotes. Justin from Ô-Chateau paired them with a selection of white wines which included Saumur of Domaine des Guyons (2012), Jurançon sec of Camin Larredya (2011) and Chignin “Le Jaja” of Domaine Gilles Berlioz (2012). (Sorry, no pictures of wines – I was too busy eating cheeses!)

The evening was made even more pleasurable for the company of other bloggers, some of whom I’ve already met on different occasions, some of whom I’ve communicated on Twitter but not in real life (until now), and of course I also got to make like-minded new connections who share similar love for Paris and food too. Yes, I even came away with new restaurants tips!

At home, F expected a report of the evening but I did a little better. I had saved some cheeses for him so he can also get a taste of the exquisite selection. He preferred the tommettes so I wolfed down the rest of the creamier ones, served with dollops of confit. As we’ll be travelling parts of the summer, we’re now waiting for la rentrée to put through a trial subcription ourselves. Should all goes well, I know what I’ll be getting my cheese-loving beaux-parents for Christmas this year…

Merci Native Native, for this wonderful discovery :)