That grilled cheese

Eastside Road, —

I'VE ALWAYS LOVED COWS, as I've probably mentioned here dozens of times. Tonight I thanked these generous, dignified, loving creatures once more, eating for dinner a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches from those Abondance cows. You can see a parade of them in the main street of Lanslevillard, in Savoie, here. I first met that breed two summers ago, while walking through the Alps. When I asked a fellow what breed they were — race is the French word for "breed," so much more satisfying a word that in its American use, I think — Mmm, vache rouge, he said, "red cow."

But I quickly learned, from a lifesize statue with bronze plaque outside that particular town, that it was the Abondance, and she gives the milk used in Beaufort, and of course in the Abondance cheese in these particular sandwiches. You can tell her by the spectacles she wears, red like her coat, on her impeccable white face.

Well, we've gone a little far, um, afield. With the sandwich, some fine green beans, slow- and long-cooked, particularly nice in this cold weather I think; and then green salad; and for dessert a little pumpkin pie Lindsey made in a Slow moment or two. What a fine supper!

Côtes du Luberon, "La Ferme Julien," 2009