Food writing, Memoir, and fearful fiction....

Well, I like to write things on my own in my blog, but when I find someone else's writing I like, I'm inclined to share.    I'm in a master's program for fiction, but recently I find myself drawn very strongly to certain types of non-fiction - especially the kind that uses food as the hook, line and sinker to draw us into personal stories.   I found one today, by food writer, restaurant owner and, I think, MFA fiction graduate Gabrielle Hamilton.   (link at the bottom of this entry).  

We Made Cheese!!!!

This is where the magic happens!

Listen, I"m still impressed that I can grow my own lettuce.  So this next step is blowing my freaking mind.   We made.  Our own.  CHEEEEEEESE!  

And the next step to world domination is complete.   wha ha ha! 
I'm not going to describe the process in detail, since there were about eight steps.    But sufficeth to say, we bought a cheese-making kit from the Homebrew Emporium in Cambridge, MA and followed the directions.   Of all our food-craft projects we've attempted so far, I might venture to say that this was actually the easiest:  30 minutes from start to finish, minimal clean up, yummy product, and other than the kit, all the ingredients (milk, not ultra-pasturized) were available at the Stop and Shop.   Sweet.

That's me stirring the curds, and the whey, w/new apron. 

The process involves mixing rennet and citric acid into a gallon of milk, heating it, letting it sit a little....um, some more stuff (we kept the kit and instructions, don't worry!).   I will say, we separated the curds and whey, and all I could think was "Little Miss Muffet, Sat down on a Tuffet...." the whole time.   


Eventually, the curds separate, we drained the whey and stuck the whole mess in the microwave for about 45 seconds. 

    "No Whey!"    "Whey."

Then....basically, it got kind of messy and we forgot to take pictures. (There are some hilarious movies that may make it onto YouTube).  But we stuck the curds in the microwave, then, with a brand-new (almost) pair of dishwashing gloves, we followed the instructions to: stretch and pull like taffy.   ("OK," I said, "here goes nothing"  and proceeded to pull with abandon).   Then, it started looking like cheese!   I rolled it into little balls and tossed it in icewater.   Here are the results:

It's pretty delicious, and Dawn went right ahead and made herself a little tiny home-made pizza.  

I waited until tonight, and got to make "homegrown" lasagna...sort of.   Well, it has home-grown tomatoes in the sauce, plus frozen pesto and homemade mozzarella.   Pretty darn cool. 

Yum.