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Monday, January 25th, 2010
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10:52 pm - Update
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6:13 pm - Mozzarella Experiment #1
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Blame Will for getting me the chesse class for a gift, but now I am obsessed with making my own mozzarella at home. I looked up online, and it seems the two key things are acid, and a thermophilic culture. It so happens that I happen to have skyr lying around, which is pretty acidic, and contains live cultures, one of which is the thermophilic bacteria S. thermophilus, which is recommended for mozzarella. Hmmm. And as the bacteria work they produce more lactic acid. Hmmm. Rennet I just happen to have lying around.
So, the first experimental batch is innoculated and we'll see how well it works. It takes almost twice as much rennet as the skyr, which makes sense since the skyr is almost yogurt-like. We'll see in an hour or two if I have curds. And then it's a matter of letting them cure for a while until I get the right acidity so that I can heat, stretch and form balls.
And also we hope it tastes good too. I would hate for it to sour too much. But for the sour skyr, I let it go about four to five hours. This should only go one too two hours.
Will report on progress later.
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| Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
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7:22 pm - Dinner
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The one with the bread crumbs is the last of the mozzarella. The others are the ricotta, which I kinda prefer because of the warm lemony flavor
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5:22 pm - Fantastic Christmas Gift
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Will got me a spot in a mozzarella making class as a Christmas gift. The class was this afternoon and I came home with four fresh cheeses: (from left to right) whole milk ricotta, oaxaca cheese, olive stuffed rolled mozzarella, and a ball of fresh mozzarella.
So much fun. :)
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| Sunday, January 17th, 2010
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4:12 pm - Thank you Miss Clairol!
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| Friday, January 15th, 2010
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12:07 pm - Cat update
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After two days of force feeding the cat with a syringe, she is now at her bowl eating food on her own. I guess she just needed a cleansing fast for a while. Kind of a detox from after Christmas splurging. Or she just may be tired of me squirting a syringe of food into her mouth several times a day.
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| Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
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12:00 pm - Expensive Kitty
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So, Giselle, the cat, is ill in some fashion. She hasn't eaten in at least five days or so. I tried getting yummy stinky canned food, but only the dog ate that. So I took her to the vet for a physical exam and bloodwork on Tuesday. Yesterday I got the call that her bloodwork was normal. Took her in today for an x-ray, and again, it's normal. She's spending the day at the vet for a force-feeding "spa treatment", and we'll decide what to do next. The next step may be a kitty internist for ultrasound or endoscopy.
Very expensive cat.
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| Sunday, January 10th, 2010
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1:53 pm - Christmas Pictures
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| Friday, January 8th, 2010
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9:19 am - Buche de Noel...again. Hopefully with pics.
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So, again, it's chocolate genoise, chocolate mousse filling, with chocolate ganache icing, and chocolate bark. Mushrooms are meringue, all other decorations are marzipan.
( Cut for size. )
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| Thursday, January 7th, 2010
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1:50 pm - Buche de Noel
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Chocolate genoise cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganache icing. Mushrooms are meringue, all other decorations are marzipan. )
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| Sunday, December 20th, 2009
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3:10 pm - Christmas Cards
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Christmas cards are going out tomorrow, send me your address if you want one. Yes I know this is the last minutes. Thanks!
Comments screened if you want to post here.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, October 2nd, 2009
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8:03 am - "Daddy's Dyin' ... Who's Got the Will?"
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Okay, not really dying, per se, but I did have a talk with my dad last night about estate planning and wills. Not too indepth, cuz, you know, math is hard.
He's been doing some reading about his type of cancer, especially when it has metastases, and has found out that the five year survival rate is 30%. Which, as he put it, means that 70% don't make it. He's worried about leaving my mom not being able to afford to live on her own. They don't have much life insurance on their own, and would need to depend on his work insurance through the college, but he's afraid that he'll lose his job because of the cancer and not have that to count on. They are talking about having my brother-in-law help them fix up the house to sell, so they won't have that debt, and then just defaulting on their credit card debt.
He's going to go see a lawyer to get some new wills drawn up, and ask questions about estate planning. Not that they really have an "estate", but it's more how to manage their debt without his income. He also has some appointments with oncologists in Joplin in a few weeks to plan what they will do next.
My mother is looking for a full time job. My parents are 68.
I think it freaks Will out that I can talk to my dad about this stuff pretty frankly and unemotionally. But, when you think about it, that's pretty much how my family has interacted my whole life. It's not like we are suddenly going to change just because my father is ill. There will be no throwing of one's self on any caskets at the funeral. (Although, that did happen at my cousin Jamey's funeral.) We just aren't built that way.
How fun this is.
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| Monday, September 21st, 2009
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6:43 pm - Dad
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So, my father has cancer.
(I thought for a minute about burying the lead, but decided against it.)
A couple of weeks ago he went to the emergency room with abdominal pain, an x-ray and CT scan showed what looked like an apple-core lesion in his ascending colon. This type of lesion, or we can call it a tumor, is pretty much always indicative of colon cancer. There are some other reasons for it, but let's say, 95% of the time it's cancer. And yes, it is.
He had surgery today to remove the bad area, plus do some biopsies of the related lymph nodes. My sister said they took about eighteen inches out. There seems to be liver involvement, about a 3 cm node there, so it looks like it's metastasized at least there. He's going to be going to get a PET scan eventually to see how involved it is.
What amazes me is how unaffected I am.
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, July 31st, 2009
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4:13 pm - Adoption and unrealistic expectations.
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So, this isn't really meant to be a rant at anyone in particular, but rather just frustration with the adoption processes with rescue groups in general.
I've been looking at adopting another dog, but most of the rescue groups that I look at all say something to the effect that animals cannot be left outdoors during the work hours, nor kenneled during work hours, or left alone for more than 8 hours. This frustrates me to no end! While I understand that they do not want to adopt out an animal to a home where it will be neglected, since when is leaving is leaving the home to go to work neglect? Do they seriously expect everyone who wants to adopt an animal to either be retired, work from home, or otherwise not have to work or ever leave the house?
My dog is out during the day, in a backyard with plenty of shade, a 6 foot privacy fence, and plenty of water. He is crate trained and sleeps in his crate at night. When I am home he comes in during the heat of the day. He comes in during the evening as part of the family. He goes on several three mile runs during the week as well as numerous walks. He is well socialized and plays at both the outdoor city dog park and the indoor air-conditioned private dog park. He is obedience trained and loves to play on agility equipment. He is healthy, happy and always gets compliments when we are out in public.
I would like to give this life to another dog, but apparently I am a horrible owner because I keep my dog outdoors during the day.
Just frustrating.
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| Saturday, June 27th, 2009
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4:05 pm - I haz a new bike!
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| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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10:54 am - To the Parents of Indiana Jones
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[From the the staff at the indoor dog park where I boarded Indy this past weekend.]
To the Parents of Indiana Jones:
I absolutely adore your fur baby, Indiana Jones. We played a little in the park, but mostly he laid his sweet little head in my lap to be loved on. He is also so smart! We worked on "sit", "down", "shake", "stay",and "come when called". I put him in a "stay", walked to the other side ofthe park, and called him... his face lit up and he ran right to me! It was so sweet! I actually work in the supply center and I am the event coordinator here at [the dog park], but I am so glad I got to work in the park and meet Indiana Jones. Please bring him back to visit ... even if you don't want to go to the park, please bring him by to say "hi". If I can ever help with anything here at [the dog park], please let me know.
p.s. Pleae give Indiana Jones lots of love from me!
***
Very sweet, I was impressed.
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| Sunday, June 7th, 2009
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11:36 am - Daniel Enzo Rappi
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| Friday, May 29th, 2009
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11:13 pm - More Adventures in Art Clay Silver
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So my latest obsession is playing with Art Clay Silver, small particles of recycled silver that are suspended in a binder that allows it to be molded like clay. When fired, the binder burns away and the result if 99.9% silver (-ish, assuming you get all the binder burned off), in a process called sintering.
So, the stuff can be fired in a kiln, with a propane torch, or on the stove top. Or at least, that's the theory. The gal at the bead shop where I get my clay is a certified instructor, she mentioned that torch firing is no longer recommended. Current recommendation is to kiln fire with about a 30 minute hold time and a slow cool. After playing with torch firing, I can understand why this is recommended. Luckily, she only charges me $5 per kiln load, so I will be using her kiln from now on.
Here are the results of my torch tests:
23 test pieces.
5 scorched.
3 melted.
1 underfired and broken (found out as I was trying to burnish it)
4 possibly underfired, using my highly scientific method of tapping the piece on my desk and seeing if it gave a metal ping, or had a dull sound.
Disappointing results, but it made for a fun evening playing with the torch.:) I'll have these pieces re-fired when I take my ring in next week, so all is not lost.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
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10:56 am - Silver clay piece #3 - thistle pendent
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| Saturday, May 16th, 2009
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12:25 pm - Skyr
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So, "Bizzare Foods" on the Travel Channel did a show on Iceland and one segment features skyr, a yogurt-like cheese that has been made since the Viking Age (or "Settlement"). I've heard about skyr for years in the SCA but had never had it. Turns out that Whole Foods carries a brand of US produced skyr. I tried it, I really liked it, and so I used the commercial brand as a culture to make a batch. It uses skim milk, a culture, and rennet. Turns out that it is basically the same as the soft cheese that Karen (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kytherean_tx) makes, just more yogurt consistancy than cream cheese. ( Cut for those that just don't care. )
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