Beauceron, or Beauce Shepherd

Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a huuuuuuge dog lover.  My mom has been breeding dogs for well over a decade now, and has been successful in starting up her own breeding name and has put several breeds on the map that haven't been familiar to many regions in France until she started breeding them.  After about 10 years of breeding Japanese Chins, amongst other breeds such as Samoyeds, Leonbergers, Colleys, Flatcoated Retrievers, Chihuahuas, Dobermans and Newfoundlands (and several other breeds that will take up some time to name),  my mom has come to a place in her life where she wants to stick with one breed and one breed only.  Everyone has heard of the dogs I have mentioned, but how many are truly familiar with the Beauceron, or Beauce Shepherd?   Most people would look at the photos above and think "Is that a German Shepherd?  Doberman, perhaps?"  But the following post is to get you educated on this particular breed to hopefully become familiarized.  This blog is all about learning new things, right?  And since the Beauceron is a breed strictly unique and mainly produced in Northern France, what a better breed to talk about on my blog of All Things French! 

The Beauceron, or Beauce Shepherd, Berger de Beauce or Bas Rouge, is of the Shepherd family of dogs, used primarily as a guard dog or a herding dog.   The Wikipedia says that a Beauceron is between 2 to 2.5 feet tall, but the ones we own easily pass the 3 foot mark in height, and when standing up on their hind legs, reach head-to-head level.  Large suckers!   The primary colorings are black and tan (more or less a red shade depending on the particular dog), or grey and tan, also known as Harlequin.  A Strange fact about the Beauceron, is that they don't have just 5 toes on their hind legs, they have 6, due to the result of a double-Dewclaw.  It is one of the principal traits of this dog.  Removal of their dewclaws at birth is strictly forbidden, as it will not be passed as acceptable by the Kennel people.  Ear cropping is also strictly forbidden in the France and the United Kingdom.  
Beaucerons make an amazing guard dog.  Their coats are also coarse and thick, which makes it acceptable for them to be outside dogs, even if you live in a very cold climate.   They are generally weary of a person that approaches the household, but get accustomed to the person after they see them a few times.  They are very good listeners, yet need to be trained often in order to achieve great results.  They are very lovey to their owners and loyal friends.   Another good thing about those who don't have much time for grooming, they need very little maintenance to their appearance.   


I highly recommend everyone that is looking for a good guard dog to give this breed a try.  They have established a Beauceron Club in the United States, although since it's the United States, they probably have altered appearances, such as clipped ears or dewclaws removed.   They are indeed a beautiful breed of the most loyal friend on earth.

My Mother's Famous 2-Ingredient INCREDIBLE Chocolate Mousse!!!!

Yes, you heard it right.  2  ingredients, authentic, delicious, and rich in flavor, you're going to consider yourself a true 'Cuisinista'.  I have been begging her for this recipe for EVER and a day, and I can't believe she loves me enough to share the recipe with the rest of you guys to share.  This recipe is TRADEMARKED, made by herself, there's many imitators, but none come as close to the real deal.  Now without further ado, THE RECIPE!!!  (Note:  In order to execute this recipe, you have to get the PRECISE ingredients correct.  Also, you have to be QUICK.  No in'between breaks, and the faster you get the recipe done, the better it will turn out to be!)

Ingredients:
200 grams (or one full bar) of BAKER'S chocolate, as close to 55% Cacao as you can.  Anything much more will be too bitter.

6 Eggs.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Separate yolks and whites in two different large glass bowls.   For the egg whites, beat with a electric beater, with a pinch of salt, until the whites are stiff and firm.  Must make a nice peak at the tip of the beaters when removed.

2.   In a small pan over low heat, melt the chocolate, do not COOK, just melt while stirring constantly.   DO NOT COOK.  Important.  Once smooth and melted, remove from heat.

3.  Directly stir the melted chocolate into the OTHER bowl with the 6 egg yolks VERY QUICKLY, otherwise the egg yolks will cook into the heated chocolate.   Stir until uniformed and very well incorporated.

4.  Stir in 1/4th of the stiff egg whites into the chocolate yolk mixture very quickly as well, just as you stirred the egg yolks and chocolate mixture.  PUT SOME ELBOW GREASE INTO IT :)   Stir until completely incorporated.

5.  Once it is mixed in, FOLD in the remaining 3/4ths of the egg whites with the chocolate mixture.  Do only fold, mixing it too much will make it liquidy and not so moussey, and folding too little will make it not uniform and awkward.   Fold until moussey and uniform in color.

6.  NOW You're Finished, and you are officially the Mousse Queen/King!  Put in fridge for a MINIMUM of 3 hours.  This makes a LOT of mousse, it makes about 8 to 10 portions.  Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to thank my mother, and if you have photos of the finished product, please feel free to share!
It goes very well with an after-dinner coffee or espresso as well :)



(Thanks again to my wonderful mother, I have been in love with this mousse for awhile now, and can't get enough.  Can't wait to pass this recipe down to my great grandchildren!)

Selection of Normandy Cheese!

France in general has around 350-400 types of cheese, 40 or so are trademarked.  Above is a photo of a few of the cheeses made in the Normandie region, which I currently am living in.   You can get some of these cheeses delivered to your house, because obviously 99% of the U.S. stores or markets don't have any of these wonderful cheeses.  So here is a description of these particular cheeses, which are sorted by number on the photo.

1.  Boursin :  Boursin is a brand, as opposed to a type of cheese.  It is a pasteurized and mix cow milk based cheese with garlic and fine herbs.  You can make some wonderful sauces with this type of cheese.

2.  Brillat-Savarin:  Triple-Cream cow's milk cheese, soft on the palate, 75% fat content, with a soft ripened crust.   Not aged for a long time, best eaten at around 12 days after production.  The crust is edible.

3.  Camembert de Normandie:  The most popular of the Normand cheeses.  Raw Cow's milk used to make this famous cheese, aged 6 to 8 weeks, with a soft ripened crust.   Made exclusively from milk of cows in the Normandy region.   Slightly odorous, white crust, with a sof and supple interior.  Crust is 100% edible and legend has it that the bacteria boosts the immune system.

4.  Pont L'éveque:  Named after the town of Pont L'Eveque in the Calvados, Normandy region.  Pont-l'Évêque is an uncooked, unpressed cow's milk cheese, square in shape usually at around 10cm square and around 1.5 inches high. The central pâte is soft, creamy pale yellow in color with a smooth, fine texture and has a pungent aroma.  Aged 4 to 6 weeks.  Edible crust.

5.  Demi-Sel:   Cheese made of Raw cow's milk,  salty and fresh texture, 40% fat.   Kind of like cream cheese in the United States.  But salty, obviously.


6.  Jort:  Another BRAND of cheese, most specifically a Camembert of Normandie.  See description above of texture. 


7.  Livarot:  It is a cheese made from cow's milk, soft washed rind, orange-colored, cylindrical in shape, surrounded from three to five strips of cattail stalks (Typha latifolia), dried and cut (paper strips are also used). These strips were originally used to firm the cheese during ripening.  Very pungeant and unpleasant scent, but wonderfully delicious.   I'm not sure if the crust is edible, but I don't think i'd eat it, because it is super pungeant.


8.  Saint-André:  It is a triple cream cheese made ​​from cow's milk, soft bloomy rind, 75% fat, weighing 200 grams, which is in the form of a cylinder of 6 cm in diameter and 5 cm high.

9.  Moulin de Carel:  Another popular BRAND of cheese, not kind of cheese, of the Camembert of Normandy family.

10.  Neufchâtel:   Another AOC protected style of popular French cheeses, in the shape of a heart.  It is a lactic cheese made ​​from cow's milk, soft bloomy rind, ripened at least 10 days, weighing 100 to 600 g depending on the format. The period of optimal tasting lasts from April to August after a refining of 8 to 10 weeks, but it is also excellent from March to November.  Legend has it that during the 100-Years-War, girls offered  British soldiers this heart-shaped cheese to show their love.  Edible crust.
 
11.  Pavé D'Auge:  A Precursor to the Pont L'Eveque, it is a cheese made from raw cow's milk, soft washed rind, 50% fat, which is in the form of a square of about 12 cm square and 6 cm thick, with an average weight of 500 grams.  It is a cousin of the Pont L'Eveque, with a considerably less pronounced taste.  Crust is edible.

12.  St. Paulin:  Brand of industrialized pasteurized cheese,  made from cow's milk, uncooked and pressed, with an average weight of 2 kg. It comes in stacks of 20 cm in diameter and 6 cm thick, characterized by a smooth orange rind and a soft interior, somewhat elastic, pale cream to pale yellow.  Best consumed after a period of 4 to 5 weeks.  I doubt the crust is edible, due to the interior and the packaging.


13.  Petit-Suisse:  Consistency very similar to cream cheese, unsalted, creamy consistency, based on cow's milk enriched with cream from cows, from 60 to 75% fat, with an average weight of 30 grams, presented in the form of a cylinder 5 cm high and 3 cm in diameter.  It can be eaten as a dessert,  with added jam, honey, etc.. or salted, with peppers with herbs. It is also used to stuff the poultry or the cover rabbit in certain dishes. Petit-Suisse mixed with mustard sometimes used to prevent them from drying out during cooking.

14.  Trappe de Bricquebec:   This cheese is produced from the mid-nineteenth century by the Trappist monks of the Abbey of Bricquebec in the Cotentin. It is a cheese made from uncooked pressed cow's milk , originally made ​​from raw milk and pasteurized, 45% fat, with an average weight of 250 grams, in the form of a small stack of 22 cm in diameter. The hatch is no longer manufactured by the monks, they have sold the brand to the Masters Dairy Cotentin, to focus on livestock, mainly pigs, and sausage-making.  Similar to the Saint Paulin.   Don't think the crust is edible due to the packaging and the texture of the interior.


SOOOOOO there you have it, thanks to Wikipedia, the description of some of the cheeses in my Region of France.  It would take me days and days to post up the other 350-400 cheeses, but if you really want to find out about the rest of the cheeses, you can go to Wikipedia to find out the other Protected types of cheese that France makes.  Hope these cheeses make you hungry, like they did to me!

Differences between France and the US I know...

I have had some issues adjusting to certain things here that i've been accustomed to in the US.   Here is a list of certain things, off the top of my head, that i've had to get adjusted to.

1.  First of all, the keyboard of the computer.    Above is a photo of the layout of the AZERTY keyboard, which changes quite a bit from the QWERTY that i can speed type on.  I'm now officially 90% accustomed to the AZERTY, but I can't type 190000 wpm on it, YET.

2.  Using the metric system instead of the standard system.  Pounds are now Kilograms, miles are now kilometers, feet are now meters, inches are now centimeters.  I am not fully adjusted to this system at ALL.  But thanks to my Korean background, my calculation skills make it easier to comprehend and convert FAIRLY easily. 

3.  No mexican food on every corner, taco trucks are now pizza trucks, Mcdonald's is fancier than all hell, and chinese food here does not compare.  MSG does not exist.   Forget about salsa, mac and cheese, ramen style noodles are about a euro a bag instead of 6 for a dollar,  hot dogs are called 'Saucisses de Strasbourg' and are super skinny,  most mayonnaise is infused with dijon mustard, FORGET about Miracle Whip....and most importantly, my beloved Buttermilk Ranch Dressing does NOT exist anymore!!!!!  No Hershey's here either, however i cannot complain:  The chocolate here is SO much better, and as a whole, the food here is far superior in quality.   But it doesn't stop me from missing my love for a good fattening chinese buffet, and ranch dressing with everything I eat.

4.   I went from living in towns with a high latino or african american population to a village with a 100% white European population.   A little ethnic diversity made the world more interesting. 

5.  The history here is incredible.  Unlike in the US where if something's so old it has to be torn down to build a commercial spot, many people do their best to conserve the history they have left.  Buildings made out of stone, dating back a millenium or more, are all over the place.  It's amazing.

6.  I went from living in a desert, where it rained maybe 5 times MAXIMUM a year, to the Normandy region, where it rains almost every week.  And instead of a high of 120 in august, it's a high of 75, 80  TOPS.   Don't miss the horrible heat, I must say.

7.  We do get a lot of US TV shows, mostly the popular ones, on TV here as well.   However, the voiceovers are horrible.  Same with movies.   Would rather watch it in English and have subtitles, to get the full effect.

8.  The people here are ridiculously nice and respectful.  The only other place that had comparable hospitality was in the South of the US, and that is only with the well spoken adults.  Instead of just waving 'Hi' or saying 'Hello', the greetings between people here start with kisses on the cheek, also known as "bises" or handshake for the men.  But if you know the person, even men give each other bises.  It's formal and makes others feel much closer.  I don't do daily bises because I hate human contact, but if i'm greeting someone for the first time, then I will do it out of respect.

    That's just a few things that were on the top of my head, as far as perceived differences between the countries, SO FAR.  I'm sure many more will come.

Waiting....and waiting....

So, I had turned in my papers requesting citizenship back in April.  Since I have family here and had everything requested, we went through to ask for the citizenship.  It is now nearing the end of August and still no word on anything.  My one hope is that they grant me the request to stay, otherwise i'll have to return to the US and try again.  Which is the main reason I was reluctant to create this blog in the first place.  If I don't end up staying, I would have no reason to have this blog and continue with my project.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that I get to stay here and get my life back on track and experience this dream for the rest of my life!  Will keep everyone updated when I end up getting news, good or bad.  Let's all hope it's good though, because I would not know what would happen if i get denied :(   I'm biting my nails here!