Maroilles and Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis

In case I haven’t broadcast it loudly enough in my past few posts: little sister is living with me now. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Little Sister is six years younger than I am, and sometimes, watching her life is a bit like watching mine from afar. Not that we’ve made all of the same decisions or even that we’re all that similar, but some of the things that are the key, life-changing points of my life have also appeared in hers. Just one of these is the fact that we both decided to go on study abroad a year early, in the same semester… so seeing her here sends me back in time to my months in Cannes, which seem simultaneously like forever ago and yesterday.

But I’m not planning on talking about Cannes today. While Paris was unseasonably warm today — closer to March than January –, my mind has drifted to another city, one that Little Sister and I shared: Lille.

Perhaps the topic of this post is even more appropriate given what her blog is all about: food of course — we are related — but also film. At Netflix and Nutella, she talks about two of her favorite things, and while I’m less inclined to discuss film on this here blog — strange, perhaps, considering that I was once a cinema studies major — today I will, because this story — my sister, Lille, and these pictures of cheese — all find their connection in Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis.

I’m not sure if this movie was all that popular or even all that well known in America. Here in France, it was. Some found the humor base, but I loved the view on the culture that I had been so immersed in, mostly because when I was actually in Lille, I lived in such a fog that I had no idea about the kinds of differences that existed between the North and the other regions of France. The accent, the customs… even the food is different. Which brings me to the photos.

This is Maroilles, one of my favorite cheeses. Some days, it’s my favorite cheese, especially on cold, gray days that remind me of the North. It’s traditionally eaten dunked in coffee because of its particularly pungent smell… attested to by the character from the South in the film (starting at 0:50).

I haven’t shared Maroilles with my sister yet. In fact, there are quite a few things we have yet to share. When I was in the ninth grade, in the wake of 9/11, I got on a plane for Lille for three months. My life was never the same after that. But neither was hers.

I was fourteen the last time I lived at home; my sister was eight. And while we’ve always been close, like all of my siblings are, this is the first time we’ve lived together since then. She’s 19 now; it’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years since sitting side-by-side on the couch has been normal, and yet here we are.

I hope that the next time it’s cold and rainy, I can make this snack for her — one of my favorites — and that she’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

No recipe. Just buy Maroilles or Vieux Lille cheese and let it come to room temperature for about an hour. Serve on toast with black coffee for dunking. And don’t breathe near anyone for about 24 hours… unless it’s your sister, in which case she’s probably seen worse.