Advent Photos 2021. 11th December + My Week

Here's another photo of an old Christmas card, this one is in a book called Christmas Fare which I think I picked up in a charity shop last Christmas.

 

 My week began making another batch of ricotta cheese  and then using it to make some ricotta and spinach lasagna - 9 portions in total and 8 went in the freezer. I'm right out of storage boxes now but have enough pizza topping and lasagnas to last me weeks!

 

I started reading Richard Osman's second book this week, whilst reading I kept thinking "blimey, this is rubbish" - the first one was pretty unbelievable but ' The Man Who Died Twice' is just bad. I may give up. ............ STOP PRESS.....I did give up!  and read the most recent Donna Leon instead - 100% better writing and much more readable and believable. (Sorry Mr Osman but your celebrity status doesn't make you a great writer!)  The library van is around next Thursday with several books for me but a worrying shortage of crime fiction for Christmas reading.

 

Wednesday morning I had a minor panic as the oil-fired boiler stopped working. After leaving a message on Ian's phone - the man who has looked after the boilers since we moved back to Mid Suffolk - he phoned me back and talked me through resetting the darn thing and Phew - thank goodness it worked. The boiler here is a combi-boiler whereas the one at Clay Cottage wasn't, so it's a bit different. (I'm a Learner when it comes to boilers anyway as we never had one anywhere until 2016)  At least I now know something to try if it goes off again.

On Wednesday afternoon I went to my first village Over 60's Club meeting - I might have been the youngest there by 10 years but - hey ho. Before Covid they had a membership of 75 people now less than 30 turn up - the others haven't all died I'm sure. The speaker did a presentation about all the Christmas legends that I've been writing about through December. There were a couple of things he mentioned that I'd not read about but by the time we'd had coffee, mince pie and the raffle (didn't win - never do!) I'd forgotten what they were!

 

 Friday and a coffee morning and raffle (again didn't win - never do) with Christmas Carols 🎵 , all in aid of the United Reformed Church.

Today I'm off to another coffee morning with my sister in the church in the village where she lives- hope they have carols playing 🎵. On the way back I will drop off a Christmas card to Col's Auntie and Uncle who will be at the village hall at another regular coffee/breakfast thing in their village.

I seem to be attending an awful lot of coffee and cake things!........ making the most of all the local events to attend - just in case THEY  lock us down in January, although after this weeks "party-gate" and "obvious lie" revelations who's going to obey anything!

 

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

 

 

 

First Saturday in July

I fitted in quite a lot this week despite watching Wimbledon, the England match and catching bits of the Tour and an unexpected drive to Bury St Edmunds hospital to pick up BiL. He's had some tests for something that sounds just like the Angina that his Grandad and Colin had. He'll get another appointment for something, he's not sure what  as he's half deaf and said  he couldn't understand what the doctors said behind their masks!  Everyone has been telling him to get a hearing aid for years.

Monday saw me making a batch of Ricotta cheese again and it's certainly much easier than the Halloumi and more useful as I turned it into 6 portions of Ricotta, Spinach and Pine Nut Lasagna as  before. I've got to be more careful about batch making with no chest freezer as I'd also planned to make a pan of pizza topping this week but found there wouldn't be room for it once the lasagna was boxed and stored away.

I whipped through  this little book when I had no library books. It's about one of the families who took part in a TV series several years ago.

 

Thought it was about time I went swimming again, missed last week, can't remember why - how do weeks fly by so quickly............that's why I do a Saturday roundup of the week - to help me remember what's happened! Only two of us in the slow half of the pool - so a good swim.

Flowers on the table this week - more rosebuds from the garden - pink this time - and still no scent.

On Friday morning I popped over to the coast to see Youngest Daughter and Eldest Granddaughter. I got the hedge cutter back to use because the neighbours on my right told me the Yew Hedge is mine. They said previous owners of my bungalow planted it as soon as they moved in as there was nothing at the front marking the boundary between the two properties. I said "do you love it?" and they said no they didn't like it much at all. So they won't be bothered if it gets replaced sometime by something much more interesting and there are lots of things more interesting than a Yew hedge which just sits there looking big and green.

Summer of Sport update........oh dear, not such a good day in the Men's Singles at Wimbledon yesterday. Dan Evans out in 4 sets. But the young Canadian guy who beat Andy is awfully handsome (if I was 50 years younger!) and may well be one to follow in the future. I always think it's annoying that the Doubles matches only get mentioned in passing because there were 5 British men playing doubles yesterday who are through to the next round. 

I missed most of Le Tour due to the above.

Then of course tonight there is a Very Important football match.

 This week I'm grateful for

• Being able to help with transport for BiL
• A super-douper pile of reading matter
• A warm and sunny Friday at the end of a chilly week

 My plans to go to the re-opening of the Saturday car-boot sale (first since the world came to a halt ) at Needham Market  may get cancelled due to a grotty weather forecast. We shall see.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Back Monday

Sue

A Wet Sunday

 What else is there to do on a wet chilly Sunday in June except to have a go at making Halloumi cheese from the cheese making kit?

The Ricotta is relatively easy but the Halloumi is a bit more complicated, so this is probably a one off try, just to say I've done it!

. 

The recipe calls for 4 litres of full cream milk  making 600g of cheese. But as I'm not that keen on squeaky cheese I just bought a litre of unhomogenized full cream milk from the farm shop.

  

There are 19 steps in the instructions to making the cheese, starting with dissolving the rennet tablet in cooled boiled water and then heating the milk gently and adding the rennet.

 

Then it has to be left until it's beginning to set. Next the curd is cut into chunks to release the whey

 

Everything is then gently heated again for 15 minutes and then allowed to stand for another 10 minutes

The curds are then put to drain in a muslin cloth over a bowl to catch the whey. A plate on top and then I added a couple of tins to make a weight.

After an hour the next part is the unusual bit as the solid curd is then cut into slices and put back in the whey and reheated and kept at a low boil for 20 minutes. My slices were more like chunks because draining  the curds in muslin and a sieve had made the whole thing bowl shaped - no good for nice neat slices.

Next the pieces are lifted out, dipped into very cold water and then put to drain on a rack. Salt is sprinkled over both sides and it's left to cool

 

It will keep in the fridge for 5 days. I'm going to follow one of the suggestions in the booklet and dip the chunks in panko crumbs and shallow fry. Then probably have the rest in a curry.

I tried a little straight away and it has more flavour than shop-bought Halloumi but is just as squeaky.
 

Apart from Ricotta and Halloumi the other cheeses which I have the instructions for are Mozzarella, Mascarpone and Feta. Mozzarella is cheap to buy and not worth making as I only use it for topping pizzas or lasagne. Mascarpone requires a lot of double cream as well as milk to make and it's not a cheese I'd used very often. Feta might be worth a go although the recipe uses goats milk, unhomogenised cow's milk and yoghurt and takes two days to make............. so maybe not!

 

After cheese making it was good to settle down to watch the Tennis Final from Queens Club. Cam Norrie did well but just so many aces from Matteo Berrettini - how does he do that!

 

Yesterday was the 21st - the summer solstice - and I didn't even notice because here it was so wet, cold and gloomy and now it's all downhill to winter😕............

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Cheese Making

 When I found the cheese making kit at a car boot sale last summer ( do you remember that time when we were actually allowed out?.......sigh......) I had every intention of  making at least 4 out of the 5 cheeses that had instructions  in the booklet. .

Mozzarella

Ricotta

Mascarpone  

Halloumi

Feta

 

Wouldn't bother with Mozzerella as that is so cheap to buy and only gets used as a topping anyway.

I started last August with Ricotta and it was delicious. And then..........................

 

...........the kit was put in the cupboard, not really forgotten but not made use of either. Eventually I bought a two litres of Gold Top milk and really planned to make Halloumi. But when I had a closer look at the recipe it said the milk must not be homogenized and the supermarket gold top was. So it remained in the freezer until this week when I had a couple of days clear to make the Ricotta again and then the Ricotta and Spinach Lasagne - which is what I used it for in August. 

 

It's incredibly easy to make. 2¼ litres of whole milk. (Half the recipe in the book). ¾ tsp citric acid dissolved in 25ml cooled boiled water. Very gently stir the water and citric acid into the milk using a gentle up and down motion. Then heat the milk gently until it gets to 185℉ or  85℃. Stir  gently at the bottom of the pan now and again to stop the curds catching.

The curds should be well separated  Remove from heat and leave to stand for 20 minutes.

 

 

 Then tip gently into a muslin cloth in a colander. (Sterilize cloth by pouring some boiling water through it first) Stir in 1tsp salt then leave to drain.

Spoon into the cheese mould and leave to drain again. I put it on a sloping tray so the whey runs away

 

Then keep covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Verdict.......Very Good just like last time. This home made Ricotta is a whole different thing to the stuff in a tub from the supermarket.

 

I used most for  3 Cheese, Spinach and Pine Nut Lasagnes like I did in August.

 

 So I've emptied the freezer of 2 bottles of gold top but put in 7 portions of lasagne instead!  Not a helpful way to eat my way through the freezer stocks!

Once I move and get organised I'll go and get some proper Full Cream un-homogenized milk from the farm shop and have a go at the Halloumi. 

Many Thanks for comments yesterday and apologies for not replying. I was either making the above, washing up after making the above or packing boxes.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Using the Cheese Making Kit

The cheese making kit found at the car boot sale a couple of weeks ago cost me £3. It contained a cheese-making thermometer(itself worth £6) a big piece of butter-muslin, a draining basket, organic salt, citric acid, rennet tablets and some dried herbs and most importantly an instruction booklet.

There are instructions for 5 cheeses

Mozzarella

Ricotta

Mascarpone  

Halloumi

Feta

  and I decided to start with Ricotta.


 It would have been OK using just blue top ordinary milk but the booklet says milk with more fat content makes better cheese so as I was shopping I got a bottle of gold top - do you remember school milk with the thick cream  on top of the third pint when the school crate had been sitting out in the sun!?. My gold top looked like that after leaving it out to come to room temperature in the kitchen. I mixed half and half with blue top normal milk and soon got curds and whey. The recipe made 2lb - rather a lot so I did half. It was ever so easy to make and I soon had 1lb. It worked out no cheaper than buying it.......... But Oh My Goodness - the difference in taste between a tub of shop ricotta and my home made - mine was so creamy and delicious and there was the fun of the making too. Worth every penny!

Ricotta freezes best if used in a recipe before freezing so I made a huge spinach and 3 cheese (ricotta in the lasagna and grated chedder and a mozzarella ball sliced on top) lasagna and portioned it up. One to eat and 5 in the freezer.It didn't look very photogenic so no photos but it tasted delicious - very creamy.

Left a little Ricotta to have with crackers and figs -Mmm! How Italian am I?!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

A Few Good Finds at the Boot-Sale

Lots of people selling at the local boot-sale on Sunday and crowds buying too, but plenty of room to look round without feeling hassled by too many people. They've spread the sellers out and stretched the car park to a bit further away so although it's further to walk from the car park it never feels crowded around the tables of stuff - and plenty of STUFF too - junk, tat and unwanted rubbish!

Although if I had a bottomless purse I could have bought toys for grandchildren to last them for the next 10 years and enough children's books to stock several libraries!

 Instead I came away with just 4 things

 A large photo frame with four spaces now I have four grandchildren was £1. The tin of 4 puzzles and the clock fit-together thing were to take to Youngest Granddaughter  as I was going there for lunch but my favourite find was the Mediterranean Cheese Making Kit. "It's not been opened and its out of date" The lady said when I asked how much and I was expecting her to say it was several £'s but when she said £3 my purse opened quite quickly! . After putting my glasses on I found the Best Before date was 1st August 2020 - so only 1 day over!
 I used to make a soft goats cheese quite often when we had plenty of milk and also a paneer type cheese too and thought it would be fun to see what this kit does. (Just looked on Amazon - this kit retails for £27.50 !!!)

I still haven't got round to writing a list of things to look for but remembered to search for a  tin-opener - although it  might be better to buy a brand new one anyway, to be sure it's OK. I do have a tin opener but it's sometimes temperamental so put one on my mental "look for" list. Perhaps next week - weather permitting.


Back Tomorrow
Sue