Monday, April 8, 2013

G = German Shepherds and Gazpacho

a-to-z-letters-g
RIP Margaret Thatcher. A wonderful woman, a fantastic Prime Minister of England.

This was Myrlin of Stanhope, better known to his friends as Zebedee. He was my very first German Shepherd, called Alsatians in England. He Zebedeewas very much my dog and would have defended me to the death if the occasion had risen. If he liked you, he really liked you, but if he took a dislike to you, he wouldn’t come near you. He adored my first husband, John, and when he met him, he similarly adored Matt but he did NOT like Matt’s dad although he did everything he could to attract him. As you can see, his ears never really stood up despite all the recommended things we tried, it got so he wasn’t too happy when anyone touched his ears. We took Zeb to training school and soon decided that we needed a dog each to handle in the training ring, so we bought Gypsy who became John’s dog. Later, I had fallen jollBemholtin love with a German Shepherd called Joll von Bemholt, Joll for short, he was a very valuable animal and was a Sieger in Germany when he was purchased for a lot of money and imported to the UK. So, when a puppy of his became available, I bought her. She became Brandy. Brandy is the only one who ended up in Canada, by that time the other two were no longer with us. German Shepherds are still my favourite dog and I am so sorry we don’t have one any more, however, living in an apartment we don’t think having any kind of pet is fair to the animal.

It appears that other countries have now copied the German show, I suspect, but don’t know, that their qualifications are not nearly as stringent. The breed was literally invented by Captain Max von Stephanitzit is quite a fascinating story. I used to have the book written by his daughter, but sadly I lent it to someone but despite a fair amount of persistence on my part, I never got it back, nor another book I had lent to the same person written by Nem Elliott who was a top British breeder and whom I met when I bought Gypsy.

I have been making Gazpacho on and off for many long years. A cold salad soup, but absolutely delicious. The soup originated in Spain. I believe the traditional Gazpacho, as served in Spain, does not have garnishes, but I always enjoyed them.


Felicity’s Perfect Gazpacho
The Guardian
Source: Felicity Cloake Picture Felicity Cloake

Gazpacho
Serves 4

100g slightly stale crusty white bread, soaked in cold water for 20 mins
1kg very ripe tomatoes, diced
1 ripe red pepper and 1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
150ml extra virgin olive oil
2tbsp sherry vinegar
Salt, to taste
Garnishes – see below


1. Mix the diced tomatoes, peppers and cucumber with the crushed garlic and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Squeeze out the bread, tear it roughly into chunks, and add to the mixture.
2. Blend until smooth, then add the salt and vinegar to taste and stir well.
3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled.
4. Serve with garnishes of your choice: I liked diced black olives, hard-boiled egg and small pieces of cucumber and pepper; mint or parsley also works well, and many people add spring onion, cubes of Spanish ham and so on.

Have a great day
Jo_thumb[2]

32 comments:

  1. Hi Jo .. I've known some lovely German Shepherds .. and I love Gazpacho .. it is absolutely delicious ..

    Cheers Hilary

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    1. Hi Hilary, German Shepherds are my favourite breed of all.

      First time I ever had Gazpacho was in Malta, oddly enough.

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  2. Can't have Gazpacho at home as David hates cucumber. But one of our Spanish friends makes a wonderful version using green apples which he says is traditional in his home town/village.

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    1. Wouldn't have thought he could pick out the cucumber but interesting using apples instead. I should try that myself some time

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  3. Lots of our friends had German Shepherds. They are very protective.

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    1. Wonderful dogs, we both like them. We used to love training them. It is the responsibility of owners to train their dogs properly, large or small.

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  4. It's the only dog I am afraid of. I had one pin me against a picket fence when I was about ten years old. It's one of those things you never forget.

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    1. Sorry to hear that Denise. I had one bite me (on the boob of all places). It's not the dog's fault it is the owners lack of training. I get really mad with people who own any dog and are too lazy to train it.

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  5. The only German Shepherd I now is aptly named as Kaiser; but he ignores me!

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  6. The Germans have one of the strictest breed standards in the dog world. I know several Breeders who import pups to improve their breeds here in the US.

    I love German Shepherds, too, Jo. We had quite a few while growing up. My great uncle Frank raised them for service dogs, k-9 security, and military. My dad had several *Von* dogs.

    Zeb is a darling.

    Your dogs

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    1. Yes they do Sia, some of the ones outside Germany emphasize the wrong things and make a mockery of the original animal which was designed to run the ditches round sheep fields and to deal with any wolves that might approach.

      They make wonderful service dogs.

      Yes, Zeb was a darling, I was very sorry to lose him.

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  7. David can taste cucumber in anything - even tzatziki with all the garlic etc. Strangely he can eat courgettes (under duress) or melon.


    I like GSDs too - my brother had a beautiful bitch. Sadly her one and only litter was disastrous, all four puppies had nasty temperaments despite both parents being placid and loving.

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    1. You'll just have to go with the apples then Sue.

      Should have been able to train the "nastiness" out of them though.

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  8. I think German Shepherds are beautiful but I have never had one. The closest I got was a Boxer mixed with German, Terry. He was a great dog.
    A friend taught me to fix the gazpacho but I am not too fond of it. Still prefer hot soups.

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    1. So do I. Not sure how they would get on with a dragon though.

      I love cold soups, Vichysoisse is one of my favourites.

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  9. I also like dogs, but don't have enough yard space to keep one, nor a fence for that matter.

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    1. Ah, well you would need both. Yard space is not so important so long as you have plenty of time to exercise the dog.

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  10. Germans are my second most favorite breed of dog. We had Golden Retrievers for 18 years, and my daughter has one now. Gazpacho, on the other hand, is really nice, better even than Vichyssoise...in my opinion.

    Patricia, Sugar & Spice & All Things ? Nice

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    1. For some reason Blogger thought you were spam today.

      Must admit it's a while since I had gazpacho, need to make some this summer. Not sure which I would classify as my favourite.

      I love Golden Retrievers, but GSDs will always be my favourites.

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  11. That soup is so detailed. I think I will give it a try and see if I can find the right ingredients.

    Thanks for stopping by my AtoZ.
    Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com

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    1. Do, you'll find it is delicious. Need to wait til fresh veggies are available.

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  12. I think a German Shepherd would raise havoc in an apartment.

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    1. Especially 3 of them like I once had. Doesn't bear thinking about.

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  13. Lovely dogs- I particularly like the slightly bent ears :)

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  14. Several friends have German Shepherds. They're very loyal and protective of the kids. They do make wonderful service dogs, too.

    The gazpacho looks tempting, especially with warm weather on the way.

    Barbara
    Twitter: @BarbaraWDaille
    A to Z: Goals, Glinda, and the Great and Powerful Oz
    The Daille-y News

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  15. I just wish we still had a GSD but, as Alex pointed out, not a suitable dog for an apartment.

    Yeah, its got my taste buds going.

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  16. I love the ears!

    L Thanks so much for visitng my blog. I really appreciate the encouragement!

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    1. Poor Zeb, we tried so hard, when he was a pup, to get his ears to stand up.

      Thanks for returning the visit Linda.

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  17. I thought they did some kind of surgery on the ears to make them stand up. In the history of the German Shepherds, did they originally have floppy ears? I just know about English Setters. We all have our favorites. I am like you, I miss having a dog, but it is not practical to have a dog in our lives now, sadly.

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    1. Never heard of surgery, there were other things recommended. A German Shepherd was "invented" by breeding all kind of sheep dogs, some may well have had floppy ears, I don't recall. I do remember some of the things von Stephanitz did to create what he considered the perfect sheep dog. Unfortunatley don't have the book now and its very expensive to replace.

      Yes, it is sad isn't it?

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