Tonight I need to make more cheese and yogurt for WW's Baronial Showcase. Last night I made yoghurt (strained greek style), cream cheese (it's draining out... if it's made of fail, it won't be shown...), and mozzarella (after 3 failed batches, I finally succeeded. Note to self: Morning Glory brand milk does NOT make cheese. It makes a mess. It's apparently pasteurized at too high a temp to be cheese-worthy.) I also cracked open my cheddar from April and have found it to be display-worthy, so there will be a very small quantity of that available as well.

Tonight, I need to stop at the store and get crackers upon which people may place my cheeses/spreads, more milk, and some contributions for a colleague's birthday celebration. I also need to clean and pack all my garb, and decide what all needs to be taken out of the "camping stash" for WW. (French press!!! COOOOOFFFEEEEEE!!!!)

Tomorrow night, I'll have the husband (I know, I know... I didn't write about the wedding... There was just too much of it...) help me load all the pavilion parts into my wee car, and I'll pack whatever I can in around the edges.

Thursday, it'll be a full day at the office, and then off to WW! Wheeee!

I has new phone. I hope the reception and coverage area prove to be acceptable, 'cause I'm already in love with this phone!

Over the weekend I put together two cheeses. One was a portered cheddar. Before pressing the cheese, I soaked the curds in a porter that I boiled until it was "double strength." The goal was more a flavored cheese than an alcoholic one, so I figured it wouldn't much matter if I evaporated all the alcohol from the beer.

I'm moderately pleased with the outcome, now that the cheese is out of the press:



The marbling is light, but you can still see it, and the smell is very much "portery." I want to eat some nownownow, but it won't be done aging for "3-24 months." ... If I can just make it until Christmas, I figure that should be about right.

I also made a lingonberry cheddar which is in the press at this moment. There will be pictures as soon as it's out this evening.

Sile and Jock helped me crack open the dilly jack cheese I made last month to make sure it wasn't poison.

It's actually quite tasty! Sadly, though it passed the taste-test, my cheese didn't hit the right acidity and didn't melt in the microwave-trial... Actually... it kinda poofed and turned into an odd sort of styrofoam peanut, and then tried to set the nuker on fire.

I also began an experiment in porter cheddars, and my beery-curds are currently in the cheesy-press being squished under 50 lbs of iron. I need to buy a notebook for recording my cheesy processes so that in the event I have a success that I care to repeat, I CAN... There's no way I'll remember what I did to a cheese, 6 months later, when I find out whether or not the cheese is yummy... Heck... I wasn't really paying attention to what I did last night and couldn't tell you how long I left the curds "curing" while I futzed around with the porter...

Saturday, I want to scrub the carpets and make another cheese. I need a nice "short aged" cheese so I'll have something to crack open at WW. Anyone want to come help?

Teffan posted video of me presenting Edward with the Princess' Sleeve.

This is both weird for me to watch and hilarious. It's weird because I'm not used to seeing myself from "audience point of view." Hilarious because I can literally SEE the "Princess Voice" trail off and run out of things to say and then the clutch and shift happens and WWED* takes over. It's almost seamless.

It's good to have an Excellent Laurel.

*What Would Eithni Do?

Jocelin made me FALL OUT laughing last night. She is the epitome of all that his polite and proper, and for all that, one heck of an intimidating woman to hang out with. Last night, she uttered something with the most SINCERE expression on her face and I had instant flashbacks to the time we tried to teach my brother to say "thank you" when he was 2.

We would hand him something and say, "Now say THANK YOU."

Only he knew how this game went. When someone says "thank you," you say "you're welcome." The rest of the words and the context don't matter. "WELCOME," he'd say firmly.

"Nononono," we'd correct him. "THANK YOU."

"WELCOME." He'd re-iterate, as though to a particularly slow child.

"No. I. want. YOU. to. say. THAAAAANK YOOOOOUUU."

He would then sigh dramatically, roll his eyes, then make eye contact to make sure you understood. "WEEEEEELLLCOMMMMMMEEE."

While Jocelyn wasn't the one in this situation that was making the social blunder, the communication disconnect was certainly similar, with me just as flummoxed as to where it all went wrong.



***

Yeah... Some days are just like that.

But the wedding invitations are mostly sent and the schedule and course description for WW are done and sent.

My brains are fried. My inbox is WRECKED.

eithni got me a copy of Wild Color: The complete guide to making and using natural dyes for CHEAP! My stoopid hurty-neck kept me from being useful for terribly long last night, so I laid around reading for the better part of the evening... The pictures are beautiful, but I'm bit concerned by her casual use of "stale urine" as an ingredient...

So... I have this problem. I don't have as much quality garb as I'd like for the reign. (2 outfits ain't gonna cut it... I managed to wear both of them in one day at Crown, and I've got 2 WARS to attend...)

That being the case, and being as I've had more kind offers to help than I can keep track of, Eithni and I put together some "tunic kits" last night. We cut out all the pieces required to make me a tunic, printed off some assembly instructions, and a card with contact info if there are any questions, jammed it all in a zip-lock baggie, and now anyone who wants to help CAN with very little trouble. All you need are a needle, thread, and nimble fingers or a fancy machine...

I'm hoping that I can put together some similar "kits" for sirzig next week and get those into circulation quickly as well.

My only complaint? I really, really hate cutting out patterns. It is my LEAST favorite part of sewing. I really love sewing... I want someone to make ME a Pretty Princess Kit so I'll have an excuse to go sit in a corner and play with string.

Ah, well. Hopefully I can get one together for myself in time for the looooong drive out to Silks, Needles, and More! out in Korsvag. That'll be something to look forward to. In the mean time, I'm trying to figure out if I have time to slap together a new apron dress for ARRG! You know... Because I have too much spare time on my hands.

Remember when you were little and your Mama told you not to cut your own hair because you'd end up looking stupid?

That advice remains sage even when you're older. Even if it's for a cool project. Even if you're Princess. None of these things makes you a hairdresser.

Boy do I look like an idiot. I hope my bangs grow back before ARRG.

Speaking of which, I hope you will all come and fence in my tourneys! Yes, that's TWO WHOLE TOURNEYS. Sile said I didn't have to choose which tourney format I liked more. She is letting me have BOTH. She is sweetest ever. Now I just need to get dispensation from the King and Queen to write up some pardons for a few people...

Home from the event. I am wrecked. The house is wrecked... I think my tidily planned schedule for the next year is uh... "dramatically altered."

I have a mess of organizing to do. I need to call "Merry Mongol Maids" and tell them I got a recommendation from previous patrons... Hope their Aelfs can work miracles...

Would anyone like to stand in for me as Gate Troll at AARG? Aparently I'll be too busy holding a tourney to take care of that myself. Sorry Sile.

Thank you to everyone who shared the day with me and kept me too distracted to get nervous. Hope I can make you all proud to be Northshield. I know I am.

My black wax came in the mail, and I have painted my cheeses black!



Zig had to go to the store last night, so I put in a request for a silver paint marker, so I could label them with their start dates and types so that I'll know when they're "ripe." Hopefully I'll eventually have enough cheeses that these labels will be necessary...

sirzig brought me flowers on Friday. Purple tulips. How pretty!


They're sitting in my kitchen window, and they make me smile every time I look at them. I have spent a fair amount of time looking at them over the weekend, because of my new obsession with cheese making. On which note, I have some cheese-porn for you...


Here are the cheddar and the monterey jack I made last week. They're in the drying phase and almost ready to be waxed and aged. You can really see the difference in how tightly the curds got pressed. Both cheeses started out with roughly the same amount of curds, but the cheddar was pressed with 50 lbs and the monterey jack only got pressed with 8. Thus the jack is much "fluffier."


Hopefully my fancy black cheese wax gets here soon so I can carry out my plan to make goth cheeses... (The pun continues to grow: "My cheeses are clearly goth because after they are de-pressed, I paint them black and put them in my dank basement where they will hang out and try to be cool.") Someone also mentioned the idea of smoking, and while I think smoking my cheeses might be a fine idea, I haven't figured out how to work that into the extended pun.

The mozzarella and ginger ale I took to May Day seemed to go over rather well. This week, I'd like to make another cheddar - this time with craisins pressed in the curds. With Crown coming at me like a freight train, though, I'm not sure if I'll have the time.

So... Here is the leetle cheese that I just pulled out of my cheese press:


It's a Monterey Jack with dill and a pinch of onion powder... It is currently drying on a plate in the cupboard. When it is completely dry, I will wax it and put it in a cooler in the basement to age.

Replacing the Jack in the cheese press, I have placed my first attempt at cheddar... Alas, i fear this experiment may be made of fail. A taste of the curds as I was flipping the cheese revealed them to be a bit on the bitter and grainy side.... Additionally, I fear that my press was not rated for cheddar (Requiring 50 lbs of pressure on the curds... The hoop keeps tilting and squirting curds out the bottom... It's a little disturbing.) I'll see how 3 months of aging does for it... I hear there's some kind of "magic flavor change" at the two month aging mark...

And speaking of aging cheeses, I have ordered black wax in which to dip my cheeses to protect them during the aging process. (I've got a wax stamp for letters that I intend to mark my little cheeses with too... Soon I will have a bunch of little goth cheeses hanging out in my basement. :) For some reason this idea makes me extremely silly happy. Hopefully they will be tasty cheeses that I will be pleased to call my own, but only time will tell.

Oh, OH! And I also started a gallon of ginger ale that should be ready for drinkin' by the May Day Moot. I hope it doesn't suck... I also hope I don't sample it all before the moot....

So. Despite the fact that I am left handed, I can only handle a needle with my right hand... Which is problematic right now because my pseudo-gout is acting up, and my right thumb is swollen and utterly useless. (I'm having trouble shifting gears in my car right now... My right hand is being seriously defective!) Needless to say, there will likely be very little sewing for me until my thumb decides to fix itself up. (Probably in a couple weeks.)

I think I forgot to mention that this is why I've suddenly switched gears and gone all dairy on you of late. Making things in my kitchen doesn't seem to require quite as much manual dexterity as my usual hobbies... Thus my current cheesy-progression.

SO!

On Saturday, I went to the Willy Street Co-op and got some citric acid and rennet, and spent 5 hours making mozzarella cheese with this recipe. I'm pleased to report that my cheese is BEAUTIFUL and yummy, and behaves (quite to my surprise) like real cheese. It melts when you heat it and stretches out into lovely strings and everything!



One gallon of milk makes about 12 oz of mozzarella. Ricotta was a possible by-product of this project, and while I did try for it, 3 quarts of whey doesn't really seem to make a useable amount of ricotta... I think I made about 3T of ricotta... I have 0 recipies that call for 3 tablespoons of ricotta...

Oh, well. Maggie and Jasmine think whey is MADE OF AWESOME, so the next batch will likely become a food-suppliment for my little beasties.

Saturday, I also went to a Salsa Rueda class with Miss jinglymushroom and, while the class went longer than I expected, I like to think that I sucked rather less than anticipated. I was actually able to have fun this time 'round, rather than being concerned that I might commit accidental violence upon my partner's toes...

So. For second breakfast today I had ginger yogurt that I made from scratch last night. In the crock pot. I'm ridiculously pleased with myself.

1. I got a quart size ziploc screw top container and washed it out. Nuked it for a bit to make sure it was germ free.


2. I filled my crock pot with hot water from the tap. It comes out at 120 degrees or so. I then had to wait 20-30 minutes for the water temp to drop to 115F.


3. While waiting for the water to cool I added room temperature whole milk (75F) to the "sterile" ziploc container and whisked in a heaping tablespoon of plain yogurt (also room temp) I got at the grocery store. This yogurt is my "starter" just as with a sourdough.


4. When the water in the crock pot hit 115F I immersed my milk container in the water bath and then balanced the crock pot lid on top. There was about an inch gap between the lid of the crock and the pot. This is fine because the actual temp I want to maintain is 110F.



5. When the temp in the crock pot got to 110F, I TURNED ON the crock pot to the WARM setting. (WARMING is actually set for higher than 110F on the Rival pot I use, but with the lid ajar, I was able to leave it at that setting for 1 hour before the temp started to climb.



6. I checked the temp every 1/2 hour and turned the crock pot on or off as needed over the next couple of hours until I went to bed. At that point, I turned the pot OFF and covered the whole assembly with a towel to insulate.


7. When I came down in the morning, it was yogurt! YAY! I added my flavorants (ginger root and splenda) directly to the 1 cup I packed for my breakfast. Always remember to reserve 1/2-3/4c of yogurt to make your next batch or you'll have to run to the store for more Dannon or Brown Cow.

Home made yogurt is more runny than store-bought, because they tend to cheat and add guar gum or gelatin to thicken their product. I made this batch without so I could sample "unadulterated yogurt." Next batch, I will heat the milk enough to scald it (keep out unwanted critters) and add some gelatin. Then I will cool it to 110F and add my yogurt... We'll see how it turns out. For now, I have a quart of yummy plain yogurt to have for lunch. Tomorrow, I think I'll try mint!

So jinglymushroom and I split lunch at the Babcock Dairy today. (Their sandwiches are so big that if you try to eat one yourself, you will NOT have room for dessert.) Masha likes pickles on her sandwich and I don't. I like onions on my sandwich and she doesn't. To resolve this issue, we get both on the side and add as needed.

While we were waiting in line, I was trying to decide what ice cream to have later, while talking with jinglymushroom about where our sides of sandwich fixin's had gone (they never made it to the tray). My brain helpfully started merging the background process of ice cream flavor possibilities with the conversation at hand, and I ended up wondering what-the-hell-kind-of-flavor "Onion Utopia" ice cream was supposed to be...

It occurs to me that I am currently walking around sans one contact and that might have factored into the reading error that changed "Union Utopia" (fudge, caramel, and peanut butter swirled into vanilla ice cream) into "Onion Utopia."

Still... I was nearly ruined for dessert because my mind immediately went there. French Onion Ice Cream?

YEACH.

A friend of mine, new to the SCA, needs a fencing jacket and all the associated do-dads related to fencing. I will be making him a doublet as soon as the pattern is available... (It is currently tied up on eithni's loom, as we didn't notice that there was writing on the paper until it was wound up under a bunch of warp yarn.) While I wait for the weaving to be completed, I will dye the linen canvas to the requested wine color for this project.

Also, if I wasn't already tied up making my sister's quilt, I'd probably be looking into making a couple of these helmet liners for the Citizen SAM project. The urge to go out and buy a couple skeins of Cascade 220 is overwhelming...

It was a busy weekend...

Friday I made another batch of Friendship Bread and hung out over at the Kegslayer residence with Angus and Zartanicus - who has a fancy new job across the street from sirzig and will be moving back to Madison! YAY!

I spent Saturday afternoon at eithni's house for "craft day." We made some good progress on warping her tasty-tasty new loom with her first project.

On Sunday, Angus and I celebrated Easter with the construction of 30 Scotch Eggs. While less decorative than pastel dyed boiled eggs, I find that eggs wrapped in cholesterol and carbs are very tasty. And now I know how to make them on my own for "event snacks!" YAY! We spent the rest of the afternoon shooting up Zombies and catching up on quilt blocks.

I did a couple more of the "do-over" quilt blocks, bringing me to a finished number of 7 of 30.

Almost a third of the way done!

I finished a block on Sunday, but due to planning for Coronation and the number of projects that entailed (A hood for HRM Stephen, a White Scarf for fencert, and 12 drop spindle "kits" for my class.) I didn't finish any blocks on Friday or Saturday. I'll try to catch back up again over the course of this week!


This block incorporated a new stitch called a chevron stitch.

I went to a different JoAnn to get more thread and found another fabric that matches my swatches, so I picked it up on a whim and added it to this block.