Say Cheese

My Aussie husband has just pointed out that most of the things I want to post right now are about food, and not travel.  I told him he needs to take me on a trip so I can write about it.  In the meantime, let’s talk about Cheese!

I have a friend who is slowly but surely moving into what I call a “Green Acres” lifestyle.  She would probably call it “sustainable”.  Whatever.  She bought a house with some acreage and a barn and is currently raising chickens.  I’m convinced that chickens are pretty much the “gateway” animal;  get a couple of them and the next thing you know you are looking at acquiring a herd of goats.  I’m sure those will be in her future if for no other reason than she can use their milk to make cheese.    She is very good at making cheese, but hasn’t quit her day job (yet) to devote herself full time.  So she scheduled a day for me and a couple of other friends to come over and see for ourselves what it was all about.  The process was way (whey?) more complicated than I was ready for.  You have to be very precise which is not really my forte’…  exact temperatures, exact measurements, exact resting or draining or cooking times.   She tried to make it easy by only showing us “direct acidulated” fresh cheeses that we could finish that day and hopefully revel in our success as cheesemakers.  Plus she served us champagne.  I am sorry to say that we were not the best of students, and I will not be marketing my own homemade cheese any time soon.  Blame it on the champagne!