Friday, June 02, 2006

The sun has got his hat on ...


Yestreday, after the funeral, I went up to the allotment to do a bit more preparation. I wore the black cotton top that I had worn to the funeral as it's stretchy and comfortable to work in but it has no sleeves. This means it's quite cool, I also had on a pair of baggy dark grey linen trouser and felt comfortable despite the sunshine.
I didn't think "stick on a hat, something long sleeved or at the very least some suncream" and consequently today I am paying the price. If someone could find a method of converting the heat coming from my arms into something useful we could heat a greenhouse or three, quite probably.
Ally asked about the cheese and it is still being quite cheesy. I heated 2 pints of milk to blood temperature and added Vegeren to the amount stated on the bottle (10 drops per pint) and waited for it to set. Once it was thoroughly cooled I strained the curds from the whey using a linen napkin (as I had no muslin to hand) and then later I put a knife through the curds added some salt and pressed the curds into a mold (a 3 inch plat pot that I had) lined with some curtain netting that I had. At this stage it tasted a little like mozarella and was the same kind of consistency but after being pressed over night it now smells cheesy. I have been looking at the recipes here and am hoping that my little bit of cheese will turn into something resembling a brie*.
It may be horrid; I don't know but I have been wanting to try this for quite a while and I am, so far, very pleased with the results. Just the rudimentary equipment I have to hand has meant I have something that resembles cheese. It may be that in a couple of weeks I have something unpleasant that I don't want to touch we'll have to see. I'll keep you posted.
*Note to self: In future do not enter term "brie" into google images unless you want something you hadn't bargained for. Try Camembert instead.

6 comments:

Ally said...

Thank you! I am going to try this, it sounds fantastic. We eat gargantuan amounts of cheese and making some out of goat's milk would be a good thing.

:{ to your poor arms.

She Weevil said...

:{ to your poor arms.

It's my own stupid fault, normally very careful and responsible wearing factor 60 as we have a strong family history of skin cancer (are you listening huffy and happy Christmas Fairy?).

Going to pot up tomato plants and some other bits and pieces.

Ally said...

I googled 'brie' by the way and nothing untoward appeared ...

She Weevil said...

Try it in google images!

Anonymous said...

*goes off to enter 'brie' into Google images*

Ally said...

Oh. I see what you mean. Good gracious :).