Got Milk?

Well, thank the stars above, I have found my new love, LAIT CRU, raw milk!  Sold at my local cheese store, “Fromagerie Pascal Beillevaire”.  It is fresh milk from a cow (I know, a novel concept) and it has not been flashed in a pan, pasteurized, heated, or manipulated. Just plain and simple, rich and delicious, full of fat, pure milk like nature intended, and sold vachement cold. I was in the middle of a typical cheese buying frenzy when I spied bottles of milk like the ones from the old fashioned days hiding in the chilly fridge section nestled up against pots of homemade yogurt and my favorite chocolate mousse (to die for!) and now I am addicted. Perhaps I should explain.  I grew up on a farm with cows in the rural Idaho panhandle. Mom would be out milking our cows and as a small tottering child I would take a tin cup and scoop out a warm cupful and drink it on the spot. Rich and delicious, not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, that is my nourishing milk memory.  Some kinds of thirst are hard to quench, so you can imagine how exciting this really is for me! This morning, I had gourmet cookies from “Mariage Frères”, which means the married brothers, kind of weird name I know, but they make these fabulous butter cookies with tea inside. I washed them down with a big glass of raw milk…it was rich and creamy and tasty and stuck to my teeth.  Milk heaven. Tonight, just to over-indulge, I heated some up Lait Cru, and added cocoa mix and a squirt of whipped cream. It’s 34° outside and only about ten degrees more in our apartment.  Delicious: I think I found my new fixation in France, and I finally feel at home. If you are in Paris, you must go and try Pascal’s fluffy velvety rich chocolate mousse. I happened to be in the fromagerie one day (not a surprise since I go there 3 times a week) when the big cheese boss (don’t know if it was Pascal or Jérôme) came in.  The black beret-wearing shopkeeper who knows that I am obsessed with his chocolate mousse (sometimes he teases me and says that they are sold out) introduced me to the cheese boss and said “This is the man that makes your favorite chocolate mousse”.  I repeatedly bowed down to him with outspread arms and chanted “My God, My God! Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu!” My husband was extremely embarrassed, but the cheese guru was elated. Fromagerie Pascal Beillevaire(4 locations in Paris)Address: 140, rue de Belleville, 75020 Paris.Phone: 01-46-36-90-81E-mail: [email protected]Hours: Tues. – Fri., 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 – 8:00 p.m., Sat. 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Sun. 9:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Closed Mondays.Propriétaire: Jérôme Boulestreau.Metro: Jourdain (line 11). Mariage Frères – Teas, candies, cookies, jams and jellies.http://www.mariage-freres.comMany locations all over town. 30 rue du Bourg-Tibourg – Le Marais – Paris 4eTéléphone 01 42 72 28 11Métro : Hôtel de Ville260 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, – Etoile – Paris 8eTéléphone 01 40 51 8213 rue des Grands-Augustins – Rive Gauche – Paris 6eTéléphone 01 40 51 82 50