Quart Formage Festival

It was the 14th of August, the day before Ferragosto, when we took a much-needed break from wedding planning. Unfortunately we were at work but the office was deathly quiet. It was the middle of the summer holiday season and everyone was on vacation. We left the office at 5.30pm and headed to the Aosta valley.

The Aosta valley is close to the French border and has many French influences. That's 'karr' for you not 'quart'. My ignorant self surely didn't know that.

It was the annual Quart Formage Festival and we were there for only one reason. Thanks to a tip-off from a fellow blogger, we had to get our hands on one of these cool wooden cheese boardswith a wine glass and cheese knife holder built in.

Success! Now we can wear this around the house while eating cheese. ;-) We purchased the contraption with 10 food tickets to be used at all the different local cheese stands.

We tried all kinds of cheeses that were local to the Aosta region: various fontina, ricotta, gorgonzola, and a bunch of other cheeses that I can't remember the names of.

They had fonduta, a local dish - basically potatoes in a fontina cheese sauce - that was delicious. And oh yes, we drank lots of wine too. Had to make use of the wine glass, right?

There was a good crowd of people at the festival, kids and dogs included.

Unfortunately, there was only so much cheese we could eat. Yes, it was good. And yes, there's nothing like fresh ricotta with honey drizzled over. But it didn't take long for me to feel cheesed-out. We ended up giving our remaining tickets to a friendly family that we had struck up a conversation with. And now we have two cute souvenirs already buried in the mess of one of our kitchen drawers.