Curd Cheese, Aging Cheddar, Baking Therapy and a YOP update!

This is my Year of Projects update! I have quite a bit done on my beach/fall cover up. Honestly though, I've been so focused on other things the last week, I didn't get as much done as I really wanted to. I have 5 more inches to knit before I get to the arm holes, this is the back of the cover up. Slow and steady! :)

Well, my cheese making took a new turn the past week! I made curd cheese! (I wrote a post on Rainy Day Cheese Making in more detail). This is a cheese that Alex and I really love to snack on. It's so expensive at the store. My batch yielded about 4 cups, and my cost was $7.50. A bag at the grocery store for one cup is $3.99.

I decided to make a homemade poutine (fries, gravy, curd cheese). Usually we only enjoy poutines from diners, but the homemade one was really good. I'll be working on it over the next few months to get it just right though. We have the fries that we love, I used my Bangers and Mash gravy, but I need to perfect the curd cheese. It turned out well in the flavour department, but that squeaky texture wasn't consistently there and I'm breaking brain cells trying to figure out why. I got some advice from the cheese supply shop and I found a very well recommended recipe that I'll try next time. My motto is to never give up! :)

I also tried a new recipe the other day too, potato pizza with Blue cheese and rosemary. Verdict? Could use a personal touch! It was good, but a little dry due to lack of sauce and cheese.. I'll add some Mozzarella and maybe some bacon next time. When I get it yummy I'll post my recipe! Speaking of food...well, first things first...

My favourite little fella in the whole wide world, Jack, is sick. :(...he ate something...we have no clue. But Alex stayed up with him until 3am, then I woke up and took my turn because he had to go out almost every half hour poor thing. At 7am, my nerves were bothering me so I decided on some baking therapy. So speaking of food...here is what I did all day:

Alex bought me a bundt pan last week with the new cookbooks, so I made my very first Mixed Berry Bundt Cake with a Brown Sugar and Butter Glaze. I searched high and low for a non-powdered-sugar glaze and this one was really sweet and delicious! I also made Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies. Mmmm...Hopefully these sweets will last us the week! :)

I am trying to empty the deep freezer. I defrosted a bunch of ingredients to make tonight's dinner, Potato, Ham and Gruyere Tart - this tart is so amazing, we can't get enough of it! I also used up the last of my Mozzarella to make a few frozen pizzas - I used my Thin Crust Dough recipe. So we're all set in case there are nights where I don't feel like cooking.

I also made a bunch of Joyce's Homemade Hamburger Buns. We decided to make 16 buns instead of the called-for 8 in her recipe so we can have some smaller burgers. We also use these as dinner rolls for stews and chilis. I love this recipe Joyce! :)

So, my first Cheddar is beautifully aging in a nice DRY orange coating! It'll be ready on Halloween. I made a second wheel which will age for 6 months and we'll try it on Valentine's Day! I have another Cheddar planned to age a full year, I will make that in the next week too.

Another pet in dire straights, poor Marlene...even with her Thunder Shirt, she really suffers during thunder storms. We've found the Thunder Shirt does help her but during long persistent bouts of thunder and lightning, not much will help. She stays with me in the kitchen and won't leave my side, though she runs upstairs occasionally for some comfort from Alex, then right back down again, curled into a ball and shaky. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make them all feel better!

Making Cheese, Garden and Cookbooks

It's Friday and it's thundering out there! I'm glad I got my dog walks done before the storm started. I'm spending the day indoors working on...you guessed it, CHEESE!!

This is my feline barricade. My second Cheddar is behind all of that during the 12-hour, 40 pounds of weight pressing. This Cheddar will age 6 months. And I'm in the process of making curd cheese for homemade poutine! Stay tuned, I'll post more this weekend! :)

These are what my pumpkins currently look like.

And lookie here! I have a green bean! Another first! :))

Alex is spoiling me with cookbooks...I got these two in the mail today and they are fabulous! He bought four as a set, the other two are coming next week, I can't wait! Hope everyone has a nice weekend with nice weather, good company and delicious food!

Staying Healthy While Enjoying Life and Enjoying The Garden!!

I got a carrot!! Alex and I did our best Bugs Bunny imitation while we chomped on our first little carrot of the season! Today, August 1st, we celebrate the first harvest of the season; and though the harvest isn't quite as big as I had hoped, I'm really happy with my garden so far this year! A Blessed Lammas to all those who celebrate! :) May your first harvest be PLENTIFUL with much more to come!!! :)))

A Wee Bit of Trivia:

Did you know that Bugs Bunny's carrot-chewing mannerisms were inspired by Clark Gable? Clark chewed on a carrot, rather Bugs-like, in the movie It Happened One Night (1934). The creators of Bugs used Clark's chewing and talking to give Bugs a little flair when he was created in 1938 as the "Un-named Rabbit" whose mission was to annoy Porky Pig at every turn. And you thought Clark's claim to fame was Gone With The Wind!!! :)

I got another nice gift today just in time for Lammas! Dianna, who many of you know as Mrs. Duncan Mahogany in the comments (not a Blogger- yet? :)) sent me a potato bag! The left photo is the one she sent, but it's hard to showcase in the photo, so with her blessing, I included the photo on the right, which is her potato bag set up in her garden! This is a photo from June though, I'm sure hers are going nuts like my garbage bin potatoes are by now! It's too late to plant more potatoes now, but this will be fun to use next spring, thanks again so much Dianna! :)) xxx

My "Peach Melba" nasturtiums are finally blooming! It happened overnight and I couldn't be happier!! They are the first flowers to bloom that I seeded in early June! :)))

Oooh, I have some progress on my cucumbers!! They flowered overnight too!

Nachos...I made this yummy plate of nachos the other day while it was raining. Alex and I snacked in bed watching Westerns...one of my favourite pastimes!!  My Blogger friends know that I don't skimp on ingredients!!! :) And I refuse to use anything labeled "low fat", "low sugar", "low carb" or anything that has ingredients that I cannot pronounce. My grandma used full fat butter and cheese and she lived into her late 90's. I do believe in moderation and Alex and I switch it up with very healthy breakfasts and salads. We like to "have it all" when it comes to eating! :)

Charlie and I have a new daily habit! We walk up the mountain and through the woods to the river together for just over an hour a day. I still walk all three dogs in the mornings for about 45 minutes. But this hour-long walk serves as my daily workout and to help our highly energetic husky work out all that energy! Her head is bigger than mine lol!

This is the view from the top of the mountain hike. It's called the "Green Peak" and that's our lake where we catch bass and trout.

The trails are very nice in this area but I wouldn't step foot here on a weekend! Too many tourists with loose dogs. But then, even the ignorant locals break the law and let their dogs loose here during the week...so just having Charlie is much more manageable than all three dogs. It's nice though, pine needle trail and very humid but cool under the shade of the trees.

One of the sections of the trail is lined with toadstools, they are so colourful!

And Charlie gets to swim in the river at the end of the walk! She gets really hot, huskies are made for the winter, but she absolutely loves our "mommy and me" time! :) Too bad I can't bring the Cheddar with us. ( <=== that's me laughing at myself since many of you are teasing me about my cheese-sitting and implying that I read my Cheddar bed time stories each night lol...) For a little Cheddar update, feel free to check out my post at Rainy Day Cheese Making,  I encountered my first real hurdle...

Last night I made Club sandwiches for dinner. The fries were very last minute as I nearly refused to put the oven on...it was so hot out! But we felt like a diner meal, so I did! Plus I can't say no to Alex, he has a way of convincing me I'm the greatest person on earth when I make him his favourite food! ;)

After I burned out in 2003, I was on meds for 7 years and after I got off them, I found out that all those years on pharmaceuticals caused a metabolic disorder that couldn't be reversed. Lucky me! :) During that time I gained and lost 97 pounds. But the loss only came from exercise. Even if I ate only carrots all day long, I wouldn't lose any weight at all. So if I want to stay healthy, I need to move every day. I've had comments asking me how I eat what I eat and not end up the size of a house...exercise! How do you keep a healthy weight? I refuse to diet, I love to eat too much, so I know I need to move and luckily I enjoy doing it!

Tomorrow I'm getting my hair cut - oh the anxiety of it all!!! I may or may not post a photo after!!!

Aging Cheddar - Bursting Garden - YOP Week 5

I hope everyone has had a nice week/weekend and is enjoying the summer weather! I know I am. It's hot and humid and wonderful out! As some of you know, I've been pretty much cheese-sitting all week, but I also had a few mornings on the porch knitting to work on one of my Year of Projects projects. I'm working on the back of my beach cover up and it's going very well! I have about nine more inches to knit before I start making the sleeves. I think I should rename this to a fall cover-up since it will likely only get done in September! It's fun though, and very relaxing to sit on the porch and knit. :)

My container garden doesn't know if it's coming or going! Look at all of these little lemon buds forming!! My lemon tree is really thriving but alas...I don't think I'll get all of these lemons growing to their fullest. This tree needs lots of sun and warmth; my hopes are up, but I think they'll all drop before the end of August unless we have an unseasonably hot autumn (fingers crossed!!).

My third round of lettuce is bursting out of the container too. I have to start another container to make sure we have a steady supply in August. We have to get to eating it!

I made a Mozzarella yesterday morning so we'd have it super fresh for our dinner salad! We eat this cheese far too quickly...I may have to start making half-batches to keep portion control lol...

Last night for dinner I made a Caprese Salad. It's basically a tomato and Mozzarella salad with basil, but we added lettuce. I can't wait until we can use our own tomatoes for this salad! Everything else is home grown or homemade! I also made a few Bianca pizzas with our leftover pita bread. This is just olive oil, garlic, basil and fresh Parmesan.

The pumpkin patch is bursting through the fence...but I do see yellow and orange flowers growing! I still have the chicken wire sitting on top of those leaves...I'm paranoid about the birds. People put up scarecrows for a reason! The leaves are strong enough to hold the chicken wire up without it pushing the plants down anyway, so I'll leave it as is for now. The tomatoes are slowly starting to grow bigger...I counted maybe 3 dozen between the regular tomatoes, Romas and cherry tomatoes.

Alex pitted another couple of hundred cherries and we used the last of them. He made more concoctions with brandy, Amaretto and Absinthe and I asked for a cup to do something on my own. I remembered once having a cocktail that had Irish Whisky and apple so I decided to try that combination with the cherries. We'll see in a few months if my palate is spot on or way off!

Drum roll please!!!

My pride and joy of the day :))  My first Cheddar is now coated and aging in my "cheese cave". (More detailed post on Rainy Day Cheese Making). As I mentioned there, this cheese will now age for three months. Alex and I decided we'll open it and taste it on Halloween and we hope it won't be a frightening experience! :) As it ages, I have to flip it daily, wipe off any mildew and make sure the temperature and humidity levels remain constant. I'll be starting another Cheddar this week and if I get my bacteria order soon, I can start a new cheese! I'm dying to make my own poutine so it might be a curd cheese! :)

Now I'm going to sit and enjoy the sweltering heat while I have it! The huskies are happy in the shade under the trees, getting all nice and dirty. I hope this little heat wave continues!

Black Forest Cake; Frittata and Coating The Cheddar

I made the Black Forest Cake! :) I used some of those brandy-soaked cherries...it turned out so delicious! Here are some artsy shots for your pleasure:

It was very good, but we like fluffy cakes better than dense ones - and this recipe made a dense cake! Next time I'll try something different. There is only half the cake left and I made it last night!

For dinner I made my very first Frittata. I followed a recipe very loosely for the number of eggs needed and the cooking time, but kind of winged it beyond that. It turned out light and delicious and there will be more frittatas in our future that's for sure!

And the Cheddar is coming along! I'm at the coating stage where I brush it with 3 coats of "cheese coating" which acts to protect the cheese from too much moisture during the aging process. I wrote a more detailed post on Rainy Day Cheese Making about coating and the attempt to make my own cheese cave. The cheese making process, at least the Cheddar, has proven to be much more complicated than I thought it would be. But it is quite a learning experience and I intend to keep learning and keep making lots of cheese!

Bell Canada is here rewiring our internet lines that were damaged by squirrels...those silly creatures, wires can't taste all that good. But soon our internet will be as quick as a flash! I'm stuck in the bedroom babysitting the dogs and cats while Alex does all the techie stuff with the Bell techie. It's a forced rest for me because I'd much prefer to be in the kitchen watching cheese coating dry lol!

Food, Booze, Cheese and a Funny Little Bird

Alex and I have a monthly ritual. The day after the monthly shopping, we go out for dinner. And we always go to the same diner and order the same food! Pizza and poutine...no fail. And it's funny because this diner has a great big ol' menu and we always look at it, then each other then order the same thing. Why mess with something that works? :)  So the shopping is done and my energy is back so I can get back to my life again! The fridge, deep freezer and cupboards are packed to the brim...and if I'm lucky, I might even have enough food for the next SIX WEEKS so I don't have to go out shopping again until September! Wouldn't that be nice??? :)

One of the cherry concoctions that Alex made was a Cherry Brandy Liqueur. We tasted it last night and wow...it was good! Right now it's the first tasting. We have to let it sit for a while and allow the cherry sediment to pool at the bottom of the jar and keep straining it through cheesecloth until we achieve a nice clear liquid. We've done it twice now and it's getting more clear each day. It's really fun to make your own liqueurs!

Part of the process was draining all of those (now) brandy-soaked cherries from the liquid. They are happily sitting in the fridge, waiting for me to make a Black Forest Cake today! The recipe calls for Kirschwasser, which is a clear cherry brandy - distilled. But I'm going to use the liquid from our cherries, I think it'll be delicious! I'll post photos before we devour it! :)

Here is the latest on the Cheddar (I posted a few more photos and info on Rainy Day Cheese Making). Look! It's turning yella!!! Oh joy! :) It's in day 3 of 6 of the drying process then it ages for 3 months. My darling Alex did something quite generous. He is giving up his bar fridge for my cheese making. This might not sound like a big deal, but Alex's passion is mixing new cocktails, creating fruit liqueurs and aging fruits in spirits and spices - all which require every inch of that little fridge. But we're going to try to pack his stuff into the "big" (lol...not so big) kitchen fridge so I can use the little one only for cheese aging. I love that guy! :)) Now some Camembert, Dry Jack and Blue Cheese may not be so impossible after all! :)

We were sitting on the porch yesterday evening before we left for the restaurant and we saw a little bird on the lawn. We thought he was poking around for seeds or something, but he was actually picking up stray dog hair! LOL...This photo is a little blurry (phone camera close ups are awful)...but you can see he has a beak-full of Charlie's shedding coat. I've never seen that before, I guess he's building a little nest of dog hair! Funniest thing we saw in a while!