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cheesemaking

Three (3) Things Thursday

Jun 23rd, 2011
by gazelle.
8 comments

1. I was up until 3 am last night. Three A M. That is very late. I am running on about 3.5 hours of sleep right now. I just hope the random giggling that starts when I’m really tired holds off until I get home tonight. It tends to frighten people.

2. Last night, we had the best dinner. Risotto with edamame, asparagus (from my CSA), and homegrown greens (arugula and spinach). Oh, and the garlic was also from my garden! (Sadly, the edamame and onions were not. Nor was the rice, actually. And not the wine, either. BUT – the chicken stock was homemade!) The parsley on top? Also from my garden.

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Oh wait – what’s that on top? Parmesan cheese? Hmmm….where did that come from?

 

3. Oh yeah, bitches. FINALLY! Cheese success. The whole process started on July 19, 2010. I made parmesan. And then, I put it in my cheese cave. Eventually, I waxed it and put it back in the cave (which is actually a wine fridge) for further aging. It is recommended that one ages a Parmesan for 11-12 months minimum.

Freshly waxed cheeses

In late August/early September, I also made two wheels of cheddar, which only need about 4 months of aging. I tested these cheeses in December. They were, by far, the most disgusting cheeses ever. Seriously.

So – I was nervous last night when I decided it was time.

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The moment of truth

I sliced out a small wedge, and then slowly and hesitantly took a bite.

The test

Holy crap.

So freaking good.

We cut a big wedge out of it & grated it for the risotto.

I think I need to make more immediately – especially since it takes a year to age!

IMAG0411 Bonus! Also handy for munching any spare ghosts you have about.

 

After the disappointments with the cheddar, I feel totally vindicated and am ready to make some more cheese!  I’m thinking cheddar this weekend, and maybe another wheel of parm in a month (the next three-day weekend I have at home & party-free).

 

 

I am back, with 75% less fishy rage!

Mar 28th, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

People! So many things happened since last I rapped at you!

Can you even believe that I haven’t blogged in almost a week? WTF?!? After all, what was I even doing last week that could tear me away from blogging?

Well, for starters, there was this:

BACON!

Bacon!!!

 

And this:

This will soon be cheese!

Finished Chevre

Chevre!

 

And this:

Brine for the chicken

Fancy brine for my chicken.

 

And this:

Sage white wine mustard ingredients The Ginger Garlic Mustard ingredients ginger, garlic & peppercorns Mustard seeds Little jars of mustard

Mustard (two kinds – oooh, fancy!)

 

And then, there was this:

Seattle Sunset Seattle skyline Troll! Gasworks Park View from our hotel room

Trip to Seattle! Good food, good friends, good times.

 

And now? Back at the office. *sigh*

Oh – and back to school *double sigh*

But this week we’ll also be back to shoesday, and book review Wednesday, and DIY-day (do you want mustard, bacon, or cheese for your DIY-day this week?).

And this weekend, there will be sausage making!  And naturescaping! And likely lots of homework!

Urban Homesteading -

Feb 21st, 2011
by gazelle.
7 comments

That phrase means different things to different people. To me, it means that I live in the city, and do my best to live life simply, sustainably, organically, and happily.

I don’t have a lot of land, but a lot of what I have is given over to my gardens. You know it’s true. You’ve seen the pictures, right?

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In addition to growing my food (and my flowers! I do love the pretty colors!), I do other interesting things with it…

Beer Brewing Canning

I have rain barrels, try to grow as much as we can, and to eat only real foods – preferably our own, but if not, from local sources when possible.

homemade bread, homemade cheese, homegrown tomatoes, roses from my garden & local wine

I have chicken dreams (and, secretly, goat dreams, too). We make our own bread and cheese (sometimes) and beer (very recently) and overall, try live a simple, homegrown life in our urban environment.

So – I would call myself an urban homesteader.

Apparently, the descriptive phrase Urban Homestead has been trademarked. Which is a wee bit ridiculous. This phrase has been around for ages (apparently, and I have no source to cite here, it was first used in the 1880s). And since the patent office decided that this was okay, a bunch of Facebook pages have been taken down, since LOTS of people use this phrase.

I, along with a few other bloggers, are posting today to take back urban homesteading and to talk a bit about what that phrase means to each of us.

UPDATED TO ADD: If you want to see a comprehensive list of everyone taking part in today’s Urban Homesteading Day of ActionTM (ha! Just kidding!) go here for the updated list. Also, I am on that list, and now I feel all fancy!

12/8/10 Reverb Writing Prompt #8: Beautifully Different

Dec 8th, 2010
by gazelle.
Comments are off for this post

Prompt: Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.

Author: Karen Walrond
The Beauty of Different
@chookooloonks

reverb10.com

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Oooh – this one is hard! This one forces me to say nice things about myself in a public forum, which, as I’m sure we all know, is tantamount to bragging! And bragging is bad.

Interesting the reservations we have about saying nice things about ourselves, isn’t it? It’s only very recently that I can voice such things aloud (although generally not to very many people). I can say (to the architect, at least), “You know, I’m really rather fantastic in the kitchen.”And it still makes me uncomfortable to say it just to one person, much less write it here.

BUT – on with the actual question(s).

What makes me different? I have so many sarcastic answers. Maybe because I am afraid to write what I really think, in case no one else agrees. BUT – no on really is reading these, right? So I’m going for it.

I think that my desire to entertain and make happy everyone around makes me different. Not different in that I don’t know anyone else with the same desires, but different in that not everyone has the same desires. If you are in my house, or at an event I’ve planned, I want to make you happy. I want you to be entertained. (I also want you to be stuffed full of food, because I have a dread that someone, some day, will leave a party I’ve thrown and be hungry. And that would be awful.) I am not obsessed with perfection. I don’t care if my decorations aren’t awesome, or my house isn’t spotless (obviously), but I do care that the food & drink are good and plentiful, and that everyone has an awesome time. I like telling stories & putting a humorous bent on them, even if that makes me look a little foolish.

I don’t know if this lights people up, or just fattens them up, but it is something that I truly enjoy (except when I’m 3 weeks post surgery, but that’s another story). I like planning things. I like inviting people from different areas of my life to mix and mingle. I like flitting between conversations making sure everyone is getting enough to eat and drink. I like hearing after that it was a great event/happy hour/party/class. It lights me up, that’s for sure.

Does this make me beautiful? Seeing people happy in my home makes me feel beautiful. Watching people delight in making their first mozzarella, or canning a jar of salsa, or realizing that jam really is that easy makes me glow. Seeing people enjoy my homemade salsas and guacamoles and cakes (I love making cakes – and am going to make one this weekend, just for the fun of it – let me know if you want  some!) and other things gives me a very satisfied feeling at the end of the day. When it’s midnight, and I’m exhausted, and there are still people at my house not ready to leave the party because they’re having too much fun, I feel irritated satisfied.

I only wish I had more time for all of this. The teaching of kitchen skills. The gardening tips. The parties. Having people in my home, happy, makes me feel beautifully different.

Some Assembly Required

Sep 13th, 2010
by gazelle.
4 comments

What a busy weekend! I had planned it to be my weekend of relaxation & anti-social behavior, but once again, things did not quite work out that way!

Friday started off slowly – homework & yoga. I couldn’t leave home, due to the fact that my fancy new phone was out for delivery!

Finally, it arrived! And then, we made out for a while. Because it is awesome.

Behold – the phone of wonder!

I amused Twitter & myself by making “this is the Droid I have been looking for” jokes.

After sufficient alone time with my new phone (it has a kindle app! and weather! and facebook!), I finally got around to doing some work.

I waxed philosophical my cheeses!

Waxing the cheeses was so much fun! Definitely my new favorite part of cheesemaking. (Ordinarily, one wouldn’t wax a Parmesan cheese, but if they are around 2 lbs or less, waxing keeps them from getting TOO hard.)

Then, I headed out for a happy hour to celebrate a couple brand new half marathoners! Yay!

Saturday morning, I did a trail run with the Ambitious One – it was her 2nd trail run to date, and it was awesome. I ran about 4.75 miles; but she did almost 7 miles! So fancy!

Saturday afternoon, the architect & I headed to the wilds of Washington State to attend his work picnic. It was fine, as far as events of that type go. I am not a big fan of forced, organized fun (such as sack races & balloon stomping games), and we didn’t stay too long.

Once we got home, I started a new batch of Cheddar. That took just about 2.5 hours from milk to hanging (the stage right before pressing).

Sunday, the architect & one of his friends went off on a long hike, and left me alone for the day. I grocery shopped, then made six pints of ridiculously hot tomatillo salsa (I ran out of sweet peppers, so just went ahead & substituted more hot peppers).

It took a LONG time to husk & chop nearly 16 cups of tomatillos (all from the garden).

After that was finally done, I made a spicy queso blanco (no photos of this apparently), and then made dinner for the hungry men – turkey sausages, corn on the cob, and purple mashed potatoes. Peach cobbler & ice cream for dessert.

I really need to get my camera fixed so that when the architect runs off with our fancy-ass digital SLR, I can still document all of my kitchen adventures!

I think I need more weekend days to get everything done!

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