Fromage Blanc

OK – so you may be asking yourself “what the heck is Fromage Blanc??”

It is cheese – a soft and simple to make white cheese that is akin to a very mild cream cheese. I should take a step backwards and tell you where this is coming from…

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a cheese making course – over the space of four or so hours we learned how to make three different kinds of cheese, in practical terms, we actually MADE two kinds (Asiago and Gruyere) and had a meal that was, well, DAMN wonderful!

Not really knowing what to expect, I arrived to find that I wasn’t the first to arrive (I usually am – I’m a total keener) and the cheese lady (Paula  - the cheese lady from Gabriola Island) was there and two of the other attendees had beat me to the house. The milk was already in pots on the stove, the kitchen table was BEAUTIFULLY decorated and there were information sheets, small envelopes holding mysterious packets and tablets, and little tiny plastic bottles at each place setting.

Paula started us off with some history of where and how cheese came to be and then also provided us with some of her background and history in making cheese as well as some of the other things she grows, makes and does.  She is a VERY interesting person and if you are looking to take a class for some sort of personal development, I HIGHLY recommend looking into her cheese making courses! I will be doing a little research up my way to see if I can’t put together a group of interested persons for a class!

In any case, the process itself AND the ingredients are basically the same no matter what kind of cheese you are going to make – the differences lie in temperature and time. I am really quite fascinated by the chemistry of it all but will have to research more on that later.

Lunch was a gastronomic delight of salad (and OMFG the salad dressing was to DIE for) cheeses, crackers, smoked salmon and a salami, and, of course, some wine.

Once lunch was over, we got back to it, and before we knew it, the course was done, clean-up was complete and we were all on our way home…

This week I ordered some stuff from Lee Valley Tools (you KNOW how much I love their stuff) and when it comes in I will make up some hard cheese (not certain which kind – maybe Asiago? I LOVE Asiago and use it on or in a lot of my cooking) but this weekend I wanted to make something – so tried my hand at a Fromage Blanc.

The process was really simple – heat the milk, sprinkle some dried culture on it & let it hydrate for a few minutes, stir it in and then just, well, leave it alone for twelve hours. Once it had been left alone I scooped it into a colander lined with cheese wrap (this sheet of plastic stuff with perforations in it) and let it drain overnight.

Let it drain. 

 

Heating the milk

A little bit of culture

How it looked at midnight last night - ready to drain

Colander in a bowl with cheese wrap

Curds... and whey!

Holy crap - that's a LOT of curds and whey!

I am just going to explore this for a moment – when you make cheese the by-product you are left with is whey – sort of a yellowish liquid – roughly 2/3 of a gallon of it when a full gallon of milk is used to make cheese. Whey powder is something that can be used in protein shakes – and so whey – true whey – can also be used to make protein shakes. It can be used to augment compost heaps, amend soil for tomato plants and blueberry bushes (more research to be done there), and also added to pet food to encourage finicky eaters. I did a little research today and learned that among other things, it also could be used instead of milk or water when baking.

Cool!  Hold that thought.

This morning I got up and, lo and behold, it was well drained!  I stirred it around (you are supposed to turn it completely, but on no coffee and still in my robe, stirring is what I was capable of ha ha ha) and then tied the cheese wrap up and hung it from one of my cupboard doorknobs.  Note to self – when I replace the cupboards I MUST be certain that I install strong and durable knobs or handles so that I can still hang stuff from them.

 

Wow - there was a LOT of whey in there!

Some whey

Bagged, hung and draining

Just some of the whey

Look - actual cheese!

Scooping it into containers to freeze

Turns out that Tree Island Gourmet Yoghurt containers
are PERFECT to reuse for cheese!

While the cheese was draining, I made up a batch of seedy bread that will be cooled, sliced thinly and then dehydrated to make artisan crackers. Go me!  Oh – by this time I had had some coffee and was dressed. Just thought I would clear that up. Fresh from my research into uses for whey (are you still holding the thought from above?) I decided to take a risk on a totally new recipe, and substitute whey for the milk.

The batter looked good but was REALLY runny – it reminded me of a couple of other recipes I have – a chocolate cake, and gingerbread – both of which are really runny but bake into the most moist and delicious cakes possible.  An hour later, my house smelling amazing, I pulled the loaves out of the oven and set them to cool.

Now TECHNICALLY I baked them so that I could then dehydrate them and have amazing home-made artisan crackers.  So here’s the thing. They smelled SO FREAKING DELICIOUS that I HAD to slice off a heel and have it with some of my home made Fromage Blanc on it.

Nom-nom-nom!

W.O.W.

The rest of it will be cooled, sliced and dried, but I am feeling pretty happy with the fruits (OK, really, the bread and cheese) of my labours.

With love across the waters…

Getting Ready for 2014

Well, another new year is upon us - it will be here in a matter of just days now!  In anticipation of 2014 and all it will bring, I'm spending a little time looking back at 2013 to see what I will try and do, and to do differently, in the new year ahead.

As always, I will strive to be more patient and more giving.  I think the thing I regret most in 2013 was treating people I love with less patience than I should have. Once something is done it is too late to take it back.  Patience and tolerance are things I think I will always be working on within myself.  I think this year I will also try to be more patient with and tolerant of myself.  Other people give me the benefit of their patience and tolerance - so why should I treat myself with anything less? 

I wonder: What kind of place would this world be, if we learned how to treat ourselves well, and then strove to treat others with that same amount of love and respect?

I am working to change things - how I do things, how I see things... about myself and about other people.  I will try to love myself more - and to love myself for who I am and not for who I think I should be.  I will continue to set goals for myself - physical, emotional, financial and spiritual. I would like to take a course or perhaps attend some sort of seminar... I'm just not sure what at this point.  Practically speaking, I should look at taking something that will allow me to work on my home - maybe some sort of course on wiring or construction... I'm just not certain what at this time.  The beauty of today is that I have a whole year to plan for. A whole year of days to look forward to.

I cried less, and laughed more in 2013.  That is a good thing.  I want to laugh even more in 2014. I want to feel a small gem of joy every day.  I want to look forward not only to the big days, but to the small ones as well.  

It is time.  Time to pull out the red pen and the good paper.  Time to write out my intentions for 2014.

With love across the waters...

Little Changes...

I am starting to see spring wake my yard and trees. We've had almost a week of solid sunshine and warmer temperatures - AWESOME sight for the back yard gardener!

 

Celeriac

Rhubarb

Garlic





Lilac



Back Yard - Work in Progress

 With love across the waters...

 

Birthday Fun

My birthday was a little over a month ago now - mid-to-late February - and it fell on a gorgeous day. Well... Actually, THIS is what I woke up to:

After a great lunch with my family (I was incredibly touched, my sister in law blocked out her afternoon to work from home so we could celebrate on my actual birthday) my brother, nephew and I took a quick trip down to the Sandy Beach in Nanaimo and explore the beach for an hour or so.  Here are some awesome shots of my brother and his son exploring the beach. THIS is the gorgeous sunny day!

Finn's little hands were, I am certain, pretty cold by the end of the visit to the beach, but he gave me some stones & pretty seaweed that day that came home with me and now sit in a dish on my entertainment centre.

 

As far as birthday presents go, little hands giving me pretty rocks is one of the best ones to receive.

With love across the waters,

Waking Up The Springtime Yard

I have spent a few hours of my Sunday/Monday weekend outside working on my back yard.  Yesterday’s outside time started with a post-snow gleaning of all of the dog poop that accumulated while snow was on the ground for a couple of months.  I did get out there while the snow was thick and heavy on the ground and do a gleaning at that point, but yesterday saw the very last of the back-yard snow gone and, with a warmish day in the works; I thought I should take advantage of the lack of rain and get out there and, well, glean.

 

That done, I spent a lovely hour outside working on pruning some of my shrubbery and the apple tree.  There’s a pile in the middle of my back yard awaiting removal now. I also, however, discovered that my wheelbarrow’s tire is flat as a pancake and that there isn’t an inner-tube – which means I either need to learn how to re-inflate a tire that doesn’t have an inner tube (I researched online and it looks too complicated) OR I need to acquire a wheelbarrow tire inner tube (MUCH less complicated and most likely my plan of attack) some time this coming week.

 

I need my wheelbarrow, you see, to help when I am removing pruning cuttings and also when cleaning up the winter debris and mulch I put down.  My compost bin is about to get a lovely rotting down leaves!

 

Once I had raked and composted the grass and leaves left over from fall, I moved my herb pots back to their space along the side fence and hauled out my bistro set – maybe a little early for it at this point, but it feels good to have it out and welcoming for the first dry day of sunshine I am home and can have a coffee outside!  I left the BBQ put away - but I suspect it too will be coming out very soon!

 

Next up on my list was to untangle my clematis from the temporary trellis-y thing I had it on last year and to affix it to the trellis-y screen that is currently (theoretically) hiding my oil tank from view in the back yard. Quick note to self, clematis is a MASSIVE pain in the bottom to be untangling and re-hanging – so never again plan to do something like that! The screen it is now affixed to is one it can stay on for years to come – or until I get rid of the oil tank for good and claim that space for addition to the house – whichever comes first.

 

I also started the work to set up where my 2013 vegetable garden will reside.  I have laid out the patio squares in between the legs of the arbour that will be acting as my gate into the garden (incidentally, it will also be what I grow my beans up over as it is the perfect height and size for me to grow green beans on) and then last of all I removed some weed suppressing cloth that the previous owner had put down under gravel along that area.  I will have a HUGE job ahead of me where screening out all of the gravel is concerned – there are stones and so forth all over the place in the area I plan to start my garden in, but this is something I can definitely do in stages.  I’m not entirely certain WHAT to do with all of that gravel when I screen it all out – maybe use it to augment Navijack when I am looking to sink fence posts and pour concrete?

 

I also found more new and interesting “crap” during my labours – a very old style pitchfork head, some spike things that I am sure are for gardening (but will have to ask my mum about) and another shovel head. I also harvested some sunchokes from the patch that grows along the back fence - I'm going to try experimenting with them this week.  I can't think if I have ever had them before and I know I have never cooked with them, so this should be interesting!

 

All done, I am soaking some dishes now and have a cup of tea steeped and ready for drinking.  Time to put together a list of supplies I will need for my next stages of the spring garden project.  Metal posts, some wire for fencing, a heavy duty screen for getting gravel out of the soil, an inner tube for my wheelbarrow’s tire, and a new hose to name a few…. I wonder if I can locate any of these things using freecycle?

 

With love across the waters,

Real Success

Real success and fulfillment comes from helping someone else achieve their goals.

          ~John Stanton: Founder of the Running Room.

 

It was in one of my Running Room courses that I first learned about SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and Time framed) goals. This morning on FaceBook I read the quote above and once again have something to mentally chew on.

 

I can name a multitude of people who have made it possible for me to make more than a few of my goals into realities.  Without my family and my friends I would be in a completely different life.  My family and friends have given me the strength, support, push, and yes, when I needed it, the real kick in the pants that I needed to take the things that were just thoughts and wishes ,and make those things into my current (and future) realities.

 

When I was in Ontario and I first started running I actually didn’t tell anyone back home what I was up to – I didn’t want to tell people what my dream was - just in case I failed. I had a big fear of failure back then, and a big fear of disappointing other people.

 

Don’t get me wrong – I still fear failure and am still avoiding disappointing others like the plague – I’ve just realized over the years that the biggest thing I can do to the people around me to make them disappointed in me is to not be myself and to not trust them to support me in my endeavours. Even when I “fail.”

 

So what am I up to now? Well, I’m trying to live more fit – get more exercise and gradually improve my endurance and over-all quality of life.  This isn’t a small goal for me – this is a big one because it involves learning to feed myself properly, and it also involves follow-through.  It also involves getting out there and exercising and trying to increase and improve things by just a little bit, but every single day.

Healthy-fit isn’t all I am trying to improve upon.  I am also trying to live more financially fit – make more intelligent shopping choices.  Ensure that there is no waste when it comes to groceries. Grow food for my own consumption.

 

This year, 2013, promises to be one filled with challenges – but the challenges I am looking forward to aren’t overly scary ones – they are goals I am excited to face – and ones that I will be thrilled to overcome!

I am also looking forward to maybe being able to help someone else achieve their own goals. Remember: what goes around comes back around threefold – good or bad.

 

Here’s to a GREAT 2013!

 

With love across the waters,

On Being The Ant

Remember Aesop’s fable about the grasshopper and the ant…?

Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow.

All day long the ant would work hard, collecting grains of wheat from the farmer's field far away. She would hurry to the field every morning, as soon as it was light enough to see by, and toil back with a heavy grain of wheat balanced on her head. She would put the grain of wheat carefully away in her larder, and then hurry back to the field for another one. All day long she would work, without stop or rest, scurrying back and forth from the field, collecting the grains of wheat and storing them carefully in her larder.

The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. 'Why do you work so hard, dear ant?' he would say. 'Come, rest awhile, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and bright. Why waste the sunshine in labour and toil?'

 The ant would ignore him, and head bent, would just hurry to the field a little faster. This would make the grasshopper laugh even louder. 'What a silly little ant you are!' he would call after her. 'Come, come and dance with me! Forget about work! Enjoy the summer! Live a little!' And the grasshopper would hop away across the meadow, singing and dancing merrily.

Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter. The sun was hardly seen, and the days were short and grey, the nights long and dark. It became freezing cold, and snow began to fall.

The grasshopper didn't feel like singing any more. He was cold and hungry. He had nowhere to shelter from the snow, and nothing to eat. The meadow and the farmer's field were covered in snow, and there was no food to be had. 'Oh what shall I do? Where shall I go?' wailed the grasshopper. Suddenly he remembered the ant. 'Ah - I shall go to the ant and ask her for food and shelter!' declared the grasshopper, perking up. So off he went to the ant's house and knocked at her door. 'Hello ant!' he cried cheerfully. 'Here I am, to sing for you, as I warm myself by your fire, while you get me some food from that larder of yours!'

The ant looked at the grasshopper and said, 'All summer long I worked hard while you made fun of me, and sang and danced. You should have thought of winter then! Find somewhere else to sing, grasshopper! There is no warmth or food for you here!' And the ant shut the door in the grasshopper's face.

It is wise to worry about tomorrow today.

Yeah – I always thought that the ant was a little bit sanctimonious – I would like to think that instead of shutting the door in the grasshopper’s face, she would  offer some food, but still – the moral of the story cannot be argued – prepare for tomorrow today.

I’ve spent the last couple of months playing at being the ant - harvesting, doing yard work and, most recently, getting the yard and garden beds ready for winter.  Today I gathered leaves that have come down and piled them over top of some of my garden space.  Next weekend I’ll do more of the same, only this time pile it up into the compost bin to let it gently rot down through the winter until, in spring, I can use it in my vegetable beds.

Garlic is planted & has set up shoots – I have mulched more leaves on top of that bed to keep them healthy and feed them come spring.

Canning is complete – I ended up with more than sixty jars of applesauce, pears and peaches and enough fresh apples and rhubarb to make up six crisps. I also made up plum jam (which is more like plum syrup) and rhubarb ginger jam. 

The last of my apples went to my brother’s home a couple of weeks ago where we ground and pressed apples to make juice - I came home with apple mash which was dug into the garden bed and a couple of gallons of the juice (both of which are gone now) it was delicious!

Putting the garden and yard to bed for the winter makes me think of the ant – getting ready for next year’s planned crops, gardens and enjoyment.  I will have a proper vegetable patch this year – fenced off and planted with things like beans, snow peas tomatoes, squash, courgettes, lettuces and carrots. When I was over on Jersey, my neighbour had an utterly brilliant way of growing courgettes and squash – she would buy a bag of soil, cut a hole or two in it, and plant her plants directly into the soil. These bags sat on her patio. At the end of the growing season, that bag of soil was used to fill and seed lawn or to augment garden beds. I figure I will do as she did and plant squash and courgettes in those and then cover the rest of my garden space with other items…

This coming year’s garden will be smaller – eventually I want to have a larger section of my yard – all the way back to my compost bin actually - fenced off for vegetables.  Being able to plant, grow, harvest, preserve and then, through the winter, eat the foods I have grown myself is my eventual goal.

For tonight, though, I will have a dinner of roast chicken and trimmings (stuffed with bread I made myself) and a yummy desert of baked apple and rhubarb crisp. If a grasshopper shows up at my door seeking food and shelter I won’t be slamming the door…

With love across the waters,