Oh, La Fromage...

These days I'm finding myself with another culinary problem. No, this isn't the same kind of 'I have enough corn-meal to feed this small country of Luxembourg' problem, but one involving food none-the-less.

My fridge wreaks. At first I thought it was spoiled milk, or maybe that questionable yogurt in the back. But even after a thorough cleaning, throwing away anything I thought could possibly be expired, it still smelled like something had died.

The culprit?

 Fromage. Cheese. Queso. Käse. 

I actually noticed this problem a few months ago when I first arrived to Luxembourg. I looked at my beautiful normal-sized fridge (as opposed to the cold shoe-box that could hold about three items), ran to the grocery store and took full advantage of the beautiful cheese you can find here in Europe. 

One of my favorite things to do in France was to go to the Fromagier, an expert of cheeses, at the market and walk away with something new and different. I remember one spring morning in La Rochelle, looking at the nice cheese-man, and telling him 'I want something stinky, green, and really really old.' 

It was so good, so flavorful, and set me down the path of stinky cheese adoration. 

Which makes for a very smelly refrigerator. 

Apparently this is a very common problem in France (oh, la belle vie) - wonderful cheese, terrible, unstoppable smell. The Dean says that there are products in the French market specifically targeted to solving this problem - sturdy plastic boxes, special plastic bags, the whole gamut. And of course, there are lovely home remedies, the most popular being to keep a piece of coal in the refrigerator.

I'm not sure where I can find coal, or even these fancy contraptions, but I do know one thing - I won't stop buying chevre anytime soon. This love runs deeps.