Diabolical Clay

Look! This is cheese.
This is cheese, made by ME!
Yummy cheese. Camembert cheese.
Organic Cheese. Mmmm.
This cheese will be ready in 3 weeks.

I am back. With cheese. Yum.
Saturday morning I left here at 8.00 am, and drove the 100 ks or so to Woodbridge high School. I had a really good run and made it there about 9.40. Excellent, the class started at 10.00. I am really anal about punctuality, and I hate being late.

Tanni was there already, Yay. We hadn’t seen each other for ages. Phone conversations just aren’t the same as actually seeing your bestest friend. Let alone spending all day making cheese together.

We had been given a list of things to bring to the course. Apron, Tea towels, Cake racks, pen and paper… and the trickiest thing of all a plastic underbed storer. The description of this underbed storer was ambiguous at best. Tanni and I agonised over which storer to get. Between us we haunted chickenfeed (a local discount chainstore) Tanni doing Huonville , Kingston Sandy Bay and Moonah. whilst i kept a beady eye on theBridgewater, Glenorchy, New Norfolk and Rosny stores. It was VERY HARD trying to find the plastic storer we thought we needed. But we perservered .hahaha. We had covered all of southern Tassie in our diligence.. and finally decided that Tanni would buy two of the smaller containers. I would buy two of the larger containers. We Would Be Prepared …

When we were checking out, Sneakily of course, what the other course doers had brought along as their underbed storer option, Tanni and I still dithered. did we use the smaller one or the larger one. Decisions like this are important. *sigh* We decided to take in one of each. of course. Sometimes the simplest of decisions need a lot of indecision initially you know. *hehe*

Can you imagine if we were doing a rocket science course? mmm titanium or plutonium mmm magnesium or hydrogen.. gosh the moon would still be untrodden upon.?.

I seriously recommend doing an Adult education course with a friend. We were having a great time and we hadn’t even made it into the classroom yet.

The tutor was NickHaddow from the Bruny Island Cheese Co.

cheesemaking is really simple. Yay for simple. But really intense* sighs* at intense.

Here it is in a nutshell.

1. Place 10 litres of milk in stock pot with heavy base.
2. Heat treat milk
3.cool milk to 34 degrees celcius
4.add starter culture
5.allow to ripen for 60 minutes.. (ha this sounds simple doesn’t it. ha haha ) this means gently stir the milk for 60 minutes making sure the temperture stays at 34 Degrees celcius..

6.add rennet
7.allow the milk to coagulate undisturbed for approx 45 mins.
(yay this means leave the milk alone and go to the loo, or have some lunch, or sit down etc)
8. cut the curd into 2cm cubes
9.allow the curd to heal for 5-10 mins (means dont fiddle with the curd..lol)
10.turn the curd gently
11. gently stir the curd every 10 mins. for 30 minutes.
12 . allow the curd to settle and remove as much whey as possible. ( save the whey)
13.ladle the curd into hoops.( little mold things)
14 turn the cheese 4 times in the next few hours ( this was tricky )
15. allow to drain overnight.. (in the underbed storer thingys yay)
16.put the cheeses into a brine for 30-40 minutes.
17.place on a rack to drain for 24 hours in the container.
18.turn the cheese every day
19.day 7-10 a nice mould /rind should have formed
20.Wrap the cheese in cheese paper and allow to mature. approx 3-4 weeks.

the dot points above were copied from the sheet we were given, the cheesemaking process was a bit different, not much tho.

I am getting” get off the computer “looks from my hubby, so If anyone has any questions leave them in the comments and I will answer them .. cheers…

I am doing a cheesemaking course tomorrow. Yay my friend Tanni is doing it with me. I am excited. Very Very Excited. We are going to be making camembert cheese YUMMO. Other cheese will be discussed as well. Bliss total Bliss.

Tanni will have to do a 40 minute drive to get there. I am allowing myself 2 hrs. I haven’t seen Tan for months. I am going to stay the weekend with my friend.I will drink more than is good for me.I will return a much nicer person.. With Cheese.. Thats always good.

Our emotions are starting to return to normal after the fire. All the grade 7 and 8 kids will be going to Geilston Bay High school. They will start school next Thursday. The grade 9 and 10s are going to Claremont college ( a year 11 and 12 facility). Dave is really pleased that he wont be separated from his friends. All the teachers are going with them as well.. I reckon this will be a logistical nightmare but at least we know what is happening in the near future.

This means that David will be home for 5 days. I wonder if my grocery budget can stand the strain? My son is a 13 year old eating machine. eeek.. Is it child abuse to lock the fridge? Should I buy a cow? Could I get away with making him a lunchbox and telling him, “Well that’s what you eat at school!” Can I be bothered? Bloody arsonists!!!

My sons school has burnt down. Half of it anyway. It was ARSON. FUCK.

This is really hard to write about. So I am going to cop out and refer you to Veronicas Account of The Fire.

Sorry I am really upset. And I am having a hard time writing about this at the moment. I am drinking beer and wreaking imaginary havoc on FUCKING ARSONISTS.

I am sad. Very, very Sad

*SIGH*

A Frog Pond, Full of spawn.
Another pond.
Yet another pond.

I thought that it is probably time that I explained my choice of name for my blog. Most blogs seem to have pretty self explanatory titles. Such as Why bother? Sleepless nights or Sarcastic mom. Mine is Frog ponds rock… Mmm a new type of music? Rocky frogstars? Wobbly ponds?

Frogs are under threat.They are rapidly declining all over the world. Whole species of frogs are just vanishing. pffft just like that. Gone. Our grandchildren wont be catching those tadpoles. So I decided to see if I could entice a few frogs into my yard by making a frogpond. I used one of those clamshell sandpit thingys and it worked a treat.

So now, in some circles I am known as the frog lady. I was the one that could be relied upon to supply the local Kindy with tadpoles (whilst my son was at primary school at least.) Unfortunately with the fungal chytrid disease affecting frogs in some parts of Tassie I am all the more aware of the importance of making my garden a frog friendly space..

YAY FROG PONDS ROCK!!!!!

There were Currawongs in my yard this morning I really like these cheeky birds. It is a shame that I couldn’t get any closer because these birds have a really mischievous twinkle in their eyes. We have Black Currawongs here at the moment. They are noisy and inquisitive. My dog Harry chases them away, I don’t know if it is because they steal his food or if he is protecting his territory. Maybe he just thinks that they are flying balls and dreams of catching them. Who knows?
This is a totally experimental post as I am teaching myself how to upload pictures.

Fingers crossed. Hope this works..

Top is the poor nibbled Lemon Tree.
Middle is part of my backyard.
Bottom is a bit more of my backyard.

I am sure there is a better way to set these photos out. A more professional looking way.
Hello. I don’t care. hehehe
I don’t care because today, I did this

ALL BY MYSELF YAY YAY YAY

I AM VERY HAPPY…

Something has been eating my Lemon tree. Whole branches are missing. Bloody wallabies. I have the most terrible luck with lemon trees. I am a keen gardener and I can successfully grow most things. Except Bloody Lemon Trees.* sigh* My mum gave me my first lemon tree about fifteen years ago. Visions of lemonade, lemon cheesecake and lemon butter all floated through my mind. Knowing that lemon trees are frost tender when they are young. I planted this tree in a sheltered spot in the garden and hoped for the best. I conceded defeat about three years later. A combination of summer drought, severe winter frosts and horrible green beetles, killed that lemon tree..*sigh*.

I tried again with a different variety of lemon, in a different spot. The outcome was the same. The conditions up here are just too harsh for some plants. Obviously Lemons are the sooks of the plant world, *SIGH*

Thoughts of lemonade, lemon cheesecake and lemon butter filled my head once again. I have bought yet another Lemon tree. I am hoping that this will be third time lucky. This Lemon tree wont be a sook. this Lemon tree will be brave and strong and fruitful. This Lemon tree will survive. This Lemon tree must be tasty because something has eaten it. Whole branches are missing, other branches are well nibbled.Bloody Wallabies!!!!

I have moved the Lemon tree onto the verandah, so I can protect it from being nibbled to death. Fingers well crossed, I hope this tree will recover. *sigh*