Feeling Back To Normal, Cultured Mozzarella, Knitting on the Porch (YOP Update Week #7)

Hi Everyone :)

Well, it's been quite a week. As I type this, Jack is still recovering from his week-long illness but I'm happy to say he's on solid food again! Phewf. For the first time in eight days, I could walk all three dogs together again! But that little bugger started to eat grass when we were on the trail - I have to watch him like a hawk!

I'm surprised I found any energy for anything else than taking care of him and sleeping this week - but I did. :-p

After THREE attempts and 16 liters of milk...(oh my gosh, my poor budget!)...I finally got some kind of Cultured Mozzarella completed. This is my Pizza Mozzarella attempt (more on Rainy Day Cheese Making). It didn't stretch...none of the three did but at least this one is more of a hard cheese than the Buffalo-style fresh Mozzarella. I have yet to try to grate it, but it's a nice consistency and I hope it'll melt nicely on our pizzas.

After doing hours of research, online and on the Cheese.org forum, I decided to download this E-book. I need some answers. But one thing I DID find out on the forum - Mozzarella is a very finicky cheese to make and though it's called a "beginner cheese", more people than you think have trouble with it! I won't give up though.

Comfort food was necessary this week - after the stress of Jack being sick and the failed cheese attempts. Each Cultured Mozzarella process was just about 8 hours. And I tried three...I followed the recipes to the word and it was very frustrating when they didn't turn out...I actually felt like quite a failure for a few days there, but I'm okay today. :) We made some pizzas the other day. Six-cheese (yes SIX!) for me (goat, Blue cheese, Parm, Cheddar, Monteray Jack and my Mozzarella); and Buffalo Turkey for Alex, he loves that spicy stuff! It's turkey soaked in Frank's Red Hot Sauce, with Mozzarella, a wee bit of Cheddar and Blue cheese.

We had our scheduled burger night...but I had no appetite because it was after my first 8-hour cheese failure. So Alex salvaged the failed Mozzarella and turned it into Curd cheese and made me a poutine with an onion gravy. It was really good! The failed Mozza made a nice squeaky Curd, go figure lol...my last attempt at Curd wasn't squeaky at all!

What are these three little fur balls looking at???

Knitting on the porch...how can I knit with Charlie's big head on my lap? I thought she was just using me as a headrest, but it was really nap time and I was her pillow.

Out like a light and my knitting on hold!

Hmmm...can't knit on the "pet couch" either...more napping!

Despite my lack of energy last week, I did get more done on my cover up. :) I started the sleeves!I hope to have the back finished by next weekend! With things a little calmer around here I can relax a little more. My next cheese attempts will be both the cultured Mozza again (can't give up, I just can't!); and a Dry Jack. I may also make my third Cheddar that will age a whole year - if I have time! :)

**If anyone would like to join the Year of Projects (YOP) group on Ravelry, just create an account there and follow this link for the YOP Group. **

I'm Being Devilishly Spoiled...😈

I have three new cookbooks! This, by far, is one of my favourites! Did you know that Vincent Price was a noted cook? He and his wife put out a handful of cookbooks over the years and Alex got me one of them! So much fun. We love his movies, and I love his cookbook! He also had his own line of wines and wine-tasting books.

I also got the last two of the "Outdoor" Williams Sonoma collection. Two more wonderful cozy comfort cookbooks! (say that three times fast...) Out of the four in this collection, the Snow Country Cooking is definitely my favourite. Makes me want to hide out in a cabin on a snowy mountain and eat stew all night...I know, I'm likely jinxing myself considering we had snow until May this year!

And look who is on the mend! I can't express my relief and happiness that my Jack is feeling better! He's not 100% yet, but much better than the last few days. I think we'll all have a good sleep tonight. Today is definitely a good day. :)

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!!!