Looking for Barney

Do you know the story of "Histoire d'O" (The Story of O) ? It's a french erotic novel, written by a woman. It was published in 1954 and it sold more than 850 000 copies at the time. It was a huge success. Women loved it. Men hated it. It's the story of a woman who decides to do whatever her lover asks her to do, even if she has to die for it. There was a documentary about it on one of our national networks last night. That's right. On TV. And it wasn't even that late. Maybe it was ten o'clock or something.
At the same time, another channel was playing a Friends episode.

What is interesting and moving about "Histoire d'O" is not the novel by itself, but the fact that it was as much a book as an act of love. It was written by a woman who had an affair with a notorious publisher, in Paris. The publisher, who was a very handsome man, cheated on her all the time. He didn't pay attention to her. She decided to impress him by doing the only thing she knew he would care about : she wrote a book. And she succeeded. She wrote it under a pen name and she didn't reveal her true identity before her lover was dead and she was a very old lady, in 1994, some thirty years later.

Now, about Chocolate Mousse. It seems simple enough. But the fact is that it's never as good as the Chocolate Mousse you can eat at restaurants. Never. Except, maybe, if you try this special recipe. It took me years and many unfortunate tries to find it. You have to do it by the book.

The first trick is in the ingredients. You'll need 100 grammes (should be 3,5 ounces) of sugar, 7 eggs and 230 grammes (8,1 ounces) of black chocolate.

First mix the sugar with the yellow of 6 eggs using a fork until the mix turns to a white colour.

Then put the chocolate in a pan, add some water, put the pan on the stove, keep the temperature low, until the chocolate
has melted. Let it rest for a minute or two. It must not be too hot, otherwise it will cook the eggs.

You'll then mix the melted chocolate with the eggs/sugar mix.

Now, for the most important part. This is the decisive moment. This is how you'll really make a difference, as far as Chocolate Mousse is concerned.

Take the white of 7 eggs. Whip them. Do not use an electrical whipper. Use a hand whipper. Maybe it will hard at the beginning. But the more you'll do it, the easiest it will be. You'll eventually come to like it. You will never have the same quality of texture and taste in a Chocolate Mousse if you use an electrical whipper. When the eggs are hard enough, when you can actually put the container upside down without having the eggs falling on your head, then mix the whipped eggs with the sugar/yellow/chocolate mix. You have to do it bit of whipped eggs by bit of whipped eggs. Proceed gently. Do it with a fork.

Let it rest for an hour or two. If you want to add something fancy, you can cut an apple into slices, put the slices in a pan with a little bit of sugar and a few drops of lemon juice, and cook it until it has turned to a caramel colour. Serve it on the side of the Chocolate Mousse.

Then it's just the time to go on Whitehouse.gov and watch Barney looking for a sign of intelligence in the White House and not finding it.

How did I go from a french erotic novel to Barney the dog, I can't remember.

See you soon at the White House ! Goodbye America !