Sunday 2 October 2011

A surprisingly productive weekend

I set out with a long list of things to do this weekend.

When a cycle meet interrupted my plan to go rollerskating at the rec reserve at 6:30am Saturday morning I was disheartened, so I spent all day watching How I Met Your Mother. Late afternoon I felt less mopey so I decorated the living room for Halloween. I love the decorations, they make me so happy.

This morning was take two at rollerskating, it was a success. I decided to test the theory that I would be better at downhill rollerskating since I'd just been skiing. It seems to be a valid theory. Still can't go up hill, but with more regular practice I believe I'll be whizzing around the rec reserve, up and down hill in no time! It's so much more terrifying skating on bitument compared to skiing on soft snow!

I then spent a few hours researching registering a company, and trying to find out whether it should be set up with debt or capital. It was frustrating and boring, and half the research I did just made me miss working in general tax.

Then onto the most exciting part of today, cheese making! After sifting through the recipes included with the kit and my new cheesemaking book, I decided upon making Lemon Cheese since it took the least amount of time, ingredients, utensils and experience. Turns out I didn't have enough stainless steel equipment, nor enough time that many of the cheeses I wish to try. For many cheeses I will need to start on a Saturday and finished on a Sunday.

Lemon Cheese involved heating 1.9 litres of full cream milk to 180-200 degrees F then stirring in the juice of 2 lemons. I then let it form into curds & whey before pouring it into the cheese cloth and hanging it to drain for an hour. I thought perhaps an hour was too long for draining, despite the recipe suggesting 1-2hrs draining. I then salted it. It made 300g of something similar to cottage cheese.

Todays flavour experimentation of Truffle Oil & Chives was a winning combination. I can't wait to try adding garlic to another batch.

I think I will try Feta next weekend.

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