Cheesy post

  What a beautiful chilly fall weekend.  Christmas lights hung on house?  Check!  Stable duties complete?  Check!  Cheese made?  Check?!!!  DW finally took the plunge and made her first cheese.  She chose a mozarella which I guess is a relatively simple recipe.  I wasn't here to see the process so it's still all pretty mysterious to me.  Here's a picture of the proud mama and her baby...

I was really surprised that it took a gallon of milk to make this.  The leftover material (whey, of little Miss Muffet fame) is good for making bread; we'll see.  She froze it anyhow until we figure out what to do with it.  I suppose if we had pigs, they would get it.  So how did it turn out?

We tested it on a salad for supper.  It was made with the last lettuce and spinach from our fall garden.  It was pretty good but had a couple of issues.  DW missed the "salting" step so it was kinda blah.  I guess the acidity wasn't quite right either so it came out a little rubbery.  I didn't mind because it reminded me of "squeaky" cheese curds.  DW said it was like eating pencil erasers but it wasn't that bad.
  This is all pretty exciting since we've wanted to try cheese making for a long time.  I must confess to having had a bit of fromagiophobia when it came to learning this skill!  We've been talking about the pros and cons of getting a milk cow or two out at the homestead but we couldn't justify it for only milk and butter...have you seen the price of butter lately?!!!  Cheese definitely makes the milk cow a viable option.

  Little man *E* has learned how to move and climb onto chairs to reach what he wants.  He has also learned how to defeat the "child proof" locks on the cupboards.  I guess I assumed that they would still be effective with a 16 month old.  Nothing is safe from him anymore!

Here's *E* helping mama with her coupons.  Enjoy!