First days at MonS

Being an affineur at MonS is demanding.  Much to do and more to know, the pace is consistently brisk.  Even the classic pause café is brief, as cheeses keep coming in, waiting for us to unwrap them, count them, taste the new ones, assess, and put them away in their respective caves.  When not receiving pallets of cheeses from artisan and industrial cheesemakers, we are caring for the cheeses already sleeping and aging in their assorted caves and drying rooms.  Whether rubbing them down with dry brushes, wet brushes or simply with our fingers, all these cheeses must be handled and flipped at least once a week to prevent an uneven outburst of mold on this one, a cracked rind on that one, or any number of unfortunate effects of being alive.  Cheese is wondrous!  Milk solid teeming with bacterial life, preserving milk indefinitely and, if created and refined properly, divine.

While this is only my first week, life at MonS is good.  Working with individuals from around the world that are truly passionate about cheese is rewarding in its own right.  Everyone works hard and seems to sincerely appreciate each other and I sense a high rate of job satisfaction.  My own satisfaction comes from knowing I will learn a lot from one of the most renowned affineurs in the world.  And as an added bonus, I am living in a beautiful, spacious house with a beautiful, spacious yard and vegetable garden (which needs some serious attention), with a British flatmate that cooks and cleans and has interesting conversation, so really I can't ask for a better lot in life.  Oh, and I live in the French countryside where the holy trinity is baguette, cheese and wine.  What!?