Adventures in Cheesemaking

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I started my second batch of mozarella early this morning.  This first thing I discovered was that I used way too much rennet last time, a whole tab instead of the 1/4 tab called for.  Not sure how I missed that.  I also used half whole milk and half 2 percent milk.

I learned two lessons this morning: making cheese is about not panicking and being patient, call it the two “p’s” of cheesemaking.  First, while my curd got a bit more solid than last time, I think I should have waited longer.  It was difficult to get all the curds out of the whey.  Then, as I tried to knead, it seemed like it wasn’t going to form a ball.  So, I panicked and put it into cheese cloth to get more of the whey out.  Mistake.  I did get out some whey but the cheese really stuck to the cloth and I lost a lot of product.  The next time I put it in the microwave, it came together into a perfect ball but it was much smaller than last time.   I added salt along with oregano, basil and rosemary.  It looks very pretty and I’m going to use it in a grilled chicken pasta dish for tonight’s supper.

I am eager to make more cheese later this week.  I may try using whole milk and skim milk.  And I’m also going to try ricotta as well.

Making Cheese: First Mozarella

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Every since reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, last summer, I have been longing to make my own cheese. I finally got around to ordering the cheesemaking kit from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company this spring. The instruction suggest keeping a cheesemaking journal and I thought it might be helpful to do that online so others might benefit from my experiences.

Here’s the report of my first attempt. I am happy to say it worked out great. I had decided the for the first time, I would follow the exact directions provided in the kit. I used whole milk since that’s what Ricki, the Cheese Queen, recommended. You cannot use ultra-pasteurized milk as it doesn’t have the necessary live cultures. I discovered that my usual grocery story did not carry any milk that wasn’t ultra-pasteurized, even its organic brand. I ended up at the specialty store in town where I found lots of milk that was homogenized and pasteurized. I bought a gallon of whole milk in a returnable glass bottle from a local dairy. I also bought distilled water since my public water supply is treated with chlorine. My husband suggested that I could use our tap water if I let it sit overnight. I may try that later, but I have a gallon of distilled water and the recipe only uses a little of it so I’m good to go for awhile.

I won’t go through each step as you can find them online and my experience was very similar. The one major difference I had was that, after waiting the suggested 3 to 5 minutes, my curds did not form a solid mass that could be cut into pieces. I waited for another few minutes but still had curds floating in the whey. According to the website, I may need to heat my milk to 100 degrees rather than the suggested 90 degrees. And, I may just need to be more patient.

I was able to scoop out my curds so I moved ahead with the instructions and was rewarded with a lovely ball of fresh mozarella cheese. It was delicious! The only place I deviated from the recipe was that I used about half of the cheese salt. The salt is actually optional but I wanted to add a bit of that flavor.

I am planning to make more on Sunday morning. This time, in an effort to reduce the fat content, I am going to use half whole milk and half 2 percent milk to see how that works. Ricki suggests that I can use low fat milk but the flavor will be reduced so I am also going to work in some of my fresh rosemary and basil from the garden along with the cheese salt.

I was so happy with my experience that I gave a kit as a birthday gift for a friend. It really did just take 30 minutes and I had a product that costs nearly $9/pound in my store! We ate some of it and used the rest for pizza along with our homemade tomato sauce from the freezer. I’m planning to use tomorrow’ batch for a pasta recipe.

Living on the New Earth

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I bought the audio version of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth some time ago but only listened to it over the past few days when I drove to Pennsylvania for a long weekend.  It was just what I needed to hear!  Tolle even suggests that that is the case: you read the book when you are ready for it.  And Tolle narrated the audio version so as I navigated the car through the horrible traffic around DC, I felt like I was in a one-on-one seminar with him, listening closely, occasionally rewinding, trying to be intensely present to what he was saying.

I have had the glimmers that Tolle talks about.  For instance, I find myself hurrying to finish folding the laundry and I think, “Why am I hurrying?” I slow down and just try to be there as I fold the laundry.  Or, I find myself annoyed over some silly thing with my husband and I find this voice saying, “Why are you annoyed?”  I have a wonderful husband who seems to already understand the notion of just being present in all you do.  He works hard to grow our food and create a peaceful life for us.  These glimmers, I realize, are the moments when I was most conscious.

My main issue in terms of the ego is worry: Am I working hard enough so I will be successful?  What will I do for money now that the grant is over? What SHOULD I be doing right now?  And, as part of that glimmer, I’ve found that if I just stop worrying and do, I get a lot done.

Right now, I am experiencing an odd sort of stress.  After many years of working very hard with very little free time, I have lots of free time.  Sure, I have a to do list but nothing that must be accomplished even in the next two weeks.  So, I am struggling inside with this.  It’s Thursday and my next job is to scrub my kitchen floor.  But other people are at work, earning paychecks.  Well, I did that for a long time and right now, I’m not doing that.  So, that means that if I look at my schedule and upcoming events and I have time and enthusiasm for scrubbing the kitchen floor, I should do it.  I don’t dwell on the past as much as I worry about the future, but for today, I am just going to try to be present in my life.

Rethinking Things

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I keep deleting the first sentence of this post because I’m not sure how to begin. This has been an odd sort of week for me. I’ve gotten a lot done in terms of work and research but I’ve done it in this kind of weird, puttering way. I’ll work on something for a few hours, then go out and garden or walk the dogs or play my recorders. And, yesterday was wonderful: I worked in the morning then met my husband at our property and gardened like crazy, then sat and drank wine and watched the creek, the three dogs sprawled around our chairs enjoying a lovely end to a beautiful day.

Taking the afternoon off means I’ll have to do some work today but it doesn’t bother me. Work and play and life in general are woven together in this interesting way for me. I’ll got practice with my recorder group this morning and then have the day at home to continue puttering. I am in the midst of reading three books, so one major goal is to finish at least one of them this weekend. I also want to get caught up on the research work as I’m heading back to my research site next week for some more interviews.

So, how am I rethinking things? Well, for one, I’m thinking a lot about my work. I need to make money, but not all that much, and I have a few billable hours on the calendar with potential for more. But, I also have more free time than I’ve had for a long time and it’s hard to adjust. Like I feel like I’m not working hard enough. There is a balance out there and I think I’m close to finding it. It’s just that I hear from friends that they are swamped with work and it makes me think that I’m not doing enough to get ahead.

I am also really rethinking my relationship with my church. I haven’t been going very much, mostly working behind the scenes instead, and I’m feeling a little disconnected from the community. I’m not ready to break the ties completely but I am finding that I prefer long Sunday mornings at home. The last time I went to church I was somewhat overwhelmed by people telling me all the things that were wrong with the website or other communications stuff. I encouraged them to email me, tried to suggest that I was at church for spiritual rather than secular purposes, and I ended up leaving without actually attending the service because I was just annoyed. I suppose Sunday morning is the perfect time to “do business” but it’s not very spiritual to me. Am I asking too much or is it just a recognition that, to use the minister’s metaphor from Palm Sunday, the boat that is my church has carried me pretty far but it may be time to dock it and move on? I’m not convinced that I need a community in order to be spiritual. Or maybe I just don’t need THIS community to be spiritual. I have to go tomorrow to play music or I would probably stay home.

A little later:  I decided to turn to the tarot cards.  I used to read them pretty regularly but now pull them out when I’ve got some personal dilemma I’m thinking through.  As I shuffled, I thought about my question: mostly it was about trusting myself in my work and my life.  If I just want to withdrawal for awhile, is that OK?  Sit and read a book?  And what about striving for work?  And, finally, what about church?  Do I still need it or want it?

Once I think about my questions, then I just lay out three major aracana cards and I use them as a way to think about my issue.  I pulled The High Priestess (2), The Sun (19) and The Hermit (9).   I always check their meanings at Learn Tarot as I like the way they focus on words and actions.

The High Priestess

  1. Nonaction
  2. Unconscious Awareness
  3. Potential
  4. Mystery

In the description, the writers suggested that the phrase for this might be, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  Be still…there’s something I don’t do very much.  Last night, after the reading and an afternoon of gardening and relaxing, I was still: my husband and I sat on the new butterfly bench I put together, tucked back amongst the wygelia and the azaleas and watched the sun go down.  Aah.

The nonaction piece was important to me, too.  I’ve been so lucky over the past few years to find work when I need it that I haven’t done much selling.  But as the grant money comes to an end, I’m feeling a bit concerned.  For now, though, I’m financially fine so I’m going to back off and just send this wish out to the universe: I would like to be able to teach and work online.

The Sun

  1. Enlightenment
  2. Greatness
  3. Vitality
  4. Assurance

This is a card about light and life, and it’s interesting that it falls between two cards about mystery and personal introspection.  I do feel more self-assured than I have in the past.  I am working on my health, losing weight, working in exercise, and I feel better than I have for awhile, too.  But this card also assures me that following my own needs is good, too.  If I’m feeling the need for solitude, it’s OK.   And, couple this with the nonaction of the High Priestess:  I’ve worked hard in my career, I have an article being published, and I think there are great possibilities out there in the world.

The Hermit

  1. Introspection
  2. Searching
  3. Guidance
  4. Solitude

So, I did laugh a little when the hermit appeared since that’s how I have been feeling lately.  When I’m not forced to be out in the world, I’m happy to putter at home, walking into the woods with the dogs, puttering in the garden, or sitting with a book and a cup of coffee.   But the hermit is also about looking for truth, the seeker, and here they quote scripture again: “Seek, and ye shall find.”  In the case of the hermit, it comes from within.  Maybe part of the problem is that I’ve stopped writing morning pages, and as much as they had become somewhat rote, they were my daily chance to look inward.  Mainly, this card reminds me that my need for solitude is legitimate.  But I need to use that solitude for reflection as I move into the last phase of my degree and then the next phase of my life.

One final note: I decided one way to develop my introspection would be to pull a tarot card each morning and then allow it to guide my thinking through the day.  When I was first learning tarot, I did this, and it led pretty naturally to my morning pages.  So, this morning (the day after the reading above), I shuffled and drew The Fool.  I laughed out loud.   I didn’t even have to look him up: the Fool is about beginnings, spontaneity, and believing in yourself.  A great card to start a great day!

Lapel pins? Are we really talking about lapel pins??

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I’m watching the News Hour coverage of last night’s debate. One of the commentators from factcheck.org pointed out that Barack Obama was not factual about the American flag lapel pin when he said that he had not made definitive statements one way or the other about wearing a lapel pin. In fact, according to factcheck.org Obama did say that he wasn’t wearing a pin: “Actually, he did. He said last year, “I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest” because it had become “a substitute for … true patriotism” during the run-up to the Iraq war.”

All I could think about was the fact that we’re in the middle of a Presidential election with a lot at stake: the economy, education, the war in Iraq, and we’re wasting time worrying about whether someone is wearing a pin or not? They even found some woman from Pennsylvania to record the question for him. Puh-leaze! Lapel pins?? And, I wish he would have repeated what he said last year at the debate last night: things like pins are substitutes for patriotism. Maybe we should start practicing real patriotism by conserving petroleum and building up our own economy instead of throwing money into that pit known as Iraq.

Tom Shales at the Washington Post criticized ABC for the gossipy nature of the debate and I applaud his message.
I was particularly annoyed with the whole thing about William Ayers, the former member of the Weather Underground.   The Associated Press has a good outline of the issue.  But, come one, aren’t we setting a pretty high standard if we start looking at every person with whom you associated?  Aren’t some very close Clinton friends in prison now?  And, of course, Bill Clinton pardoned two of the Weathermen before he left office.  Again, this is really a non-issue.

I think part of the problem here is that neither candidate is very far apart on the issues.  So, we focus instead on trivialities and titillating details.  And, I think Obama showed his disdain for these tactics last night.

Wednesday Morning

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The dogs let me sleep until almost 7:30! We walked, ate, let the chickens out…all the morning chores. Now, I’m at my desk and I rearranged the monitor so I can see the whole backyard. The hummingbirds returned the minute I put up the feeders on Saturday. Better stock up on sugar! I’m also keeping an eye out for chickens. They figured out how to get over the fence somehow and have been whacking away at my herb garden. One parsley plant was completely obliterated–just a hole where it used to be. They also tore up the two dill plants my husband gave me. I think he’s got more back in the green house.

My lunch date canceled for today so that makes these morning hours less crucial for work. I did two hours of research work yesterday first thing. Now, I have three memos to write, another interview to transcribe and then an interview this afternoon as well. Been fooling around with recording phone calls and ended up buying a speaker phone. The iPod picks it up ok plus with a phone interview, I can type while we talk. I also bought a little $8 suction cup from Radio Shack that sticks on the receiver and then feeds into the analog recorder. I’ll put that on the phone as well. You really can’t be too careful.

I rewarded myself for all the research work by playing some more with Flash. It is coming back to me and I’ve got one module for a “what food when” game to learn about Jewish holidays. I’m going to start a new one about holidays that include lights. These are samples for a client. No huge bells and whistles but some animation and music.

It’s been nice to be home the last few days. I can putter and get things done on my own time. I’ve got a running “to do” list and managed to check a few things off of it. Put in a big Amnesty International order for my nephew’s birthday and may make a few CDs from vinyl for him, too. I’m hoping to be off doing research next week so am making the most of being at home.

I was going to make chicken salad for lunch. I think I’ll turn those chicken breasts into tortilla soup instead. And I’ve got turkey and potato rolls for turkey burgers. I’ll do those tonight and then make the soup in the crock pot tomorrow. We have folks coming for wine and snacks and I think I’m going to try home backed tortilla chips again. I have a big stack of tortillas to work with. Mostly I’m trying to work with what I’ve got so I can avoid leaving the house until Friday morning when I head to a workshop.

I’ve been feeling pretty lousy the last two or three days so gave myself off from WW. I need to get back on the plan, though. Mostly I’ve eaten cheese: I really miss it! Big chunks dipped in mustard and eaten with crackers. Yum! I haven’t written anything down for at least two days and I’m aware of how the act of recording does keep me from overeating. So, today I’m shooting for a 26 point day. So far, I’ve only had coffee so I’m on track.

Blessings to all!

A Glorious Day

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I spent three nights in a hotel room this week. I slept better than I usually do and got a lot of work done, but I was ready for a day off today. After a bit of work this morning (mostly chatting with two colleagues), I headed outside and started transplanting perennials. I moved some phlox from a spot that has gotten shady over the years. But I also just relocated some plants and even worked on the herb garden, which had been worked over by the chickens before we fenced them out. I earned somewhere between 12 and 16 exercise points for WW so I am having two glasses of wine. And, dinner will be pretty healthy: skinless chicken breasts in Trader Joe’s curry sauce and rice and a salad.

My husband is the real gardener is the family and is considering signing up for the master gardener program in our town. But I like digging in the dirt, too, and am generally in charge of the flower beds, of which we have 4 major areas. I’ve been working on them slowly over the past several years, moving things, dividing things, and I think this will be the best year ever. I’m going to buy a few herbs tomorrow: basil and basil seeds, thyme, and a pineapple sage. I’ll get just a few annuals for the barrels in the front.

The only thing I haven’t accounted for is zinnias. I used to do them in the garden beside the front path but I’ve made that almost completely perennials and is a more “controlled” atmosphere. Maybe I can get my husband to dig up a plot in the front yard, where we are trying to reduce the amount of grass. I could just sow a swatch of them. I’ve got a big bag of seeds from last year and may get a few more tomorrow.

Aah…my window is open and I’m looking out on the back yard as usual. There are still chores to be done. The birds need fed after four days, and I should make hummingbird food and put those feeders out. But I think that shall be tomorrow’s job. A very small chickadee just stopped at the feeder for a sunflower seed then headed off to eat it. Simple but elegant and always exciting to have birds just a foot or so away.

I drank my first glass of wine sitting in the backyard reading Sharon Kay Penman’s Falls the Shadow, the second in a series of books about the relationship of England and Wales.  I’m going to both those places in October and have a pile to read, including The Other Boleyn Girl on my Kindle.

I’m on my second glass of wine. I can hear a dove cooing in the woods. There’s that chickadee again and then the flutter of his wings as he heads off with his seed. I know I’ll have to work tomorrow, mostly on research stuff, but today was indeed a glorious day!

Living in the Past

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I had an amazingly productive day yesterday.  We finished the taxes!  That’s the biggie: this is the first year we are doing them ourselves after having accountants for many years.  I followed along closely last year and am using TurboTax and feel fairly confident about the whole thing.  We’re getting an extension so at some point, I’ll print the whole packet and review it against last year’s to see what different.  Here’s an interesting thing: we only got the standard deduction even though in the past we’ve itemized.  Just not enough medical stuff or mortgage interest on this old house to get us over the hump.  We could do more charities, although I think we give a lot for our income.

I made chicken legs General Tsao style and a potato herb frittata for dinner.  As a post-tax treat, I made baked tortilla chips in the convection oven.  They were very good and since I used spray, I think they were very low in calories.

I also got a lot of little things off my to do list in preparation for travel.  I decided to drive west tonight for a few hours so tomorrow morning is a bit more leisurely.  I was not looking forward to being on the road at 6 AM and 8 hours in the car.  I’ve got something else to do so I’ll stay over until Wednesday as well.  My bags are packed; I’m ready to go.

The main point of this post is to record a quote from Annie Dillard’s The Living, which I finished last week.  It has been raining here for three or four days and I feel like I’m in the Pacific Northwest without the views of Mount Rainier and Mount Baker hovering always on the horizon.  The novel focuses on the history of the Bellingham, Washington, area and follows the pioneer families through several generations.  It was superb, really, with startling metaphors woven into its sometimes spare historical narrative.

But, I’m giving it up.  Taking it to the Book Exchange with several others including the Carl Hiassen (Double Whammy) I finished this morning.  And there’s one quote I didn’t want to lose as it deals with change:

The women, low on the logs, had started up “long Ago, Sweet Long Ago,” and the men’s deep voices met their earnest sopranos boldly; they all love this song.  They sang in the dark, and looked at the fire.  They had seen younger faces, around other fires; they had sung beneath other skies, in other times, far away.  The tide was starting out, and the wet mud reflected the fire darkly, in only the yellows.

Each man and woman had seen the old ways lost in half a life time, and knew there never was a generation so pushed, spun, and accelerated by change as their own, and so nostalgic for a more innocent past, however fanciful.  It was their childhoods they mourned for, and the vanished times and places and people (pp. 357-358).

I was struck by the notion that these people, living in the late 19th century felt as we do today: spun out of control by the force of change around them.  In their lifetimes, they saw massive expansion of travel, from the wagons they drove across the frontier to get to Washington to the railroads, whose choices of towns for depots could make or break a community.  And, with that travel, came more accelerated communication.  Certainly nothing like what we have today, I know, but for them, taking several weeks off the delivery of a letter or being able to send a telegram must have seemed like quite a feat.

Yet, these people are mourning more than technologies, but the culture that developed around such technologies.  Wagon trains built community; railroads encouraged individualism.  “A more innocent past, however fanciful” captures that notion of looking back on something that never really existed, a memory that sustains you.

Killing Time With a Latte

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I’m waiting for my husband so we can start the taxes.  Fixed myself a latte.  I love the ritual of it and the fact that it doesn’t cost $3.65 for a few espresso beans and some low fat milk.  And it comes in a reusable container.

I have come to love to cook. Years of watching Food TV, which was the only lifestyle type cable channel we got for awhile, has hones me into a cook. I understand some basic techniques and can substitute and modify to meet my needs. For instance, I have made this baked pasta casserole three times now and each time it has been different depending on the ingredients at hand. The commonality has been spinach, which is pouring out of my husband’s green house right now. But, once I added ground chicken to make a one-pot non-vegetarian meal, and this time I dropped the meat and added crimini mushrooms from our recent trip to Trader Joe’s and snow peas from the green house. I used a mixture of monterey jack and romano cheese and added some garlic and oregano. I’ve never used the same pasta or the even baked it. I just do it on the stove top the way she suggests in the comments. My husband loves it, and I think it will be a summer staple. It would be nice to have fresh mozarella on it.  Learning to make it and finding the ingredients is on my to do list.

Speaking of mushrooms, I’m supposed to be researching how to grow them. I think I know in theory: you buy a kit. Found a good article from Mother Earth News and am already thinking about putting some in the garden to naturalize. I love the philosophy of the article: one reason to grow things in your own garden is to get something really fresh and not pay outrageous prices. We could certainly do shitake mushrooms out at the property.  The article led me to Mushroom Adventures and they have kits. I think I’m going to get the half portobello, half button kit to get started.

Well, he’s ready so I’m going to click publish!  Here we come, TurboTax!

Morning Pages

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I’m half way through my first cup of coffee.  I somehow volunteered to help at church this morning, and if I got my act together, I could go for the first service, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.  It’s still raining, although I can see a patch of bright light out there.  It doesn’t matter if it’s nice, though.  My husband finally got around to pulling together his tax numbers so I’ll be spending the afternoon with Turbo Tax.  We’ll file for an extension but at least we’ll know how much to send with it.

After making two pairs of socks, I’m not crocheting slippers from granny squares.  Still using up old worsted weight yarn.  It took me awhile to get the gauge right.  The pattern suggested an F hook to make a 4-1/2 inch square.  I’m up to an I!  They are very cute: a combo of white, green, and brown.  I’ll make the second one today, probably, while I’m watching the second part of Sense and Sensibility.

I also need to get some exercise today.  I’ve been eating OK (although I’m not sure how the sweet potato pie and low fat frozen yogurt fits in), but I need to do the second piece.  I took a bike ride on Friday and it felt good.  We’re lucky to have the Colonial Parkway just down the road so I am rewarded by great views of the river.  I also saw a cedar waxwing hanging out in a tree along our road.  If it clears up today, I’ll try to get another ride in, but it will probably be yoga.  I’ve got a new Gaiam DVD to try out.  I liked the “Energy Balancing” routine: mostly for when you’re feeling lousy and just need to be quiet for a bit.  the other one is a more typical workout.  I ordered two yoga bricks to try out as well.

So, with taxes, crocheting and exercise, I’ve got a full day ahead.  I wouldn’t mind finishing Carl Hiassen’s Double Whammy, either.  We are rushing to the climax: the bad guy has a dog head hanging from his arm and has just kidnapped the hero’s ex-wife.  Meanwhile, the hero is trying to figure out how to beat the murder rap for which he was set up.  It’s funny, but vaguely reminiscent of Nature Girl.  And, I just got a notice from Amazon that he’s got a new one out.  There’s also one more in my basket.  I think I’ll probably devote more time to Barack Obama’s autobiography next.  It’s on the Kindle and I’ve been reading bits and pieces when I’m waiting for meetings or stuck in hotel rooms.  So much to read, so little time.

And, there’s always a flash project to work on.  I think I’ll buy a license for royalty free clip art to use.  I did some rudimentay drawings in Flash itself and they looked pretty bad. I could always run the clip art through Comic Life for a nice effect.  I’ve at least worked out the flow of decisions.

The chickens are giving the back yard a real once over.  It’s wet and the worms are coming out.  We discovered that the silver spangled hamburg was laying eggs in a tucked away spot under the pump house lean to.  Found a good dozen or so.  Not sure how old they are, so we’re going to feed them to the dogs.  They’ll eat anything!

OK, coffee is gone and it’s time for a shower.  Many blessings to all for a wonderful day!