Because I refuse to be beaten by a little citric acid and rennet, I attempted to make mozzarella cheese again today. I am happy to report that I mastered it by not over heating the cheese this time. I have a ball of ooey, gooey mozzarella goodness to eat tonight with fresh tomatoes and basil! Cheers to persistence!
Month: July 2012
Making Mozzarella Part Two
Not sure why my words did not show up on my last post, but here goes again…
I have always wanted to learn to make mozzarella cheese since it is one of my favorites…all you need is olive oil and basil and prefection has been reached. I purchased a cheese kit from Urban Cheese Craft . It is a straight forward and simple process and the kit contains everything you need except the gallon of milk. The kit contains enough supplies to make 10 batches, which means I will be in cheese heaven for a while!
My cheese progressed exactly as the directions said until the end when I needed to stretch it. I think I overheated it during the last heating session because it was really difficult to stretch. Of course, the true test comes tomorrow when I taste it…I am keeping my fingers crossed!
Making Mozzarella
Summer Spirit
Life as a working mom is busy. So when my mother-in-law offered to take the girls for the week, I was part disbelief and part “how can I maximize my time without the kids?” We dropped of the kids Sunday night and proceeded to go out for sushi. On Monday, my husband and I both went to work but I was amazed at how quickly I got ready. So quickly, in fact, that I was able to stop somewhere for coffee before arriving at work (early, at that!).
On Tuesday we both worked again but decided to take Wednesday and Thursday off. Well, on Monday evening I had ten women over for wine and cheese. On Tuesday, when my husband arrived home I asked, “Where are you taking me to dinner?” We meandered through the Pearl and finally ate at a shocking 8 p.m.! We casually strolled the city streets with no where in mind and no schedule to watch. It was quite freeing!
On Wednesday, we woke up and went for a run, quickly showered and went to breakfast at Compote (http://compotepdx.com/). The poached egg stack was delicious. I noticed these articoke flowers (pictured above) as we left the restaurant. They were simply amazing and the bees were happily diving into their centers looking for nectar. We then went to the garden store to pick up a few plants for our new backyard. We ate lunch and decided to ride bikes down the Esplanade. We are off to a friend’s Happy Hour later this evening. All in all, a fun and productive “vacation” day enjoying my husband’s company!
Moms’ Night
I live on a very active and involved block in our neighborhood. There are 29 kids on the block ranging from 18 months to 13 years old. There is a lot of free-spirited, spontaneous play. The moms get together regularly and so I decided to host last night’s affair. It was a perfect evening to enjoy our new backyard. I had a wine and cheese theme, so I asked everyone to bring a wine and cheese pairing that they liked. All the cheeses were good but there was a lavender gouda that was exceptional; especially since those are not typical combined flavors. I also made a lemon tart and another neighbor brought brownies and a quinoa salad. There was lots of chatter and laughter. It was the perfect way to spend a summer evening!
Summer Flowers
Anyone who follows my blog knows that I have a fascination with flowers. Here are the latest pictures.
Managing Difficult People
It is a fact of corporate life-you will probably have to manage or interact with a difficult person at some time or another. I love Talent Management Magazine and always seem to find informative articles on a variety of topics. In this month’s issue, Pelan’s article titled, “Managing Difficult People” has some sound advice.
There is no question that effective communication skills are mandatory when working on teams-especially given that most teams are diverse, global and even virtual, at times. Pelan argues, “When employees understand their communication style, they can modify and adjust to improve their situational effectiveness.” There is no doubt in my mind, though, that without the awareness of one’s style and how to adjust the style based on the situation and personality, it is pretty difficult to navigate the slippery slope of a difficult personality. I highly recommend taking an assessment such as Myers-Briggs or DISC to help you determine your communication style.
Some tips for handling problem personalities:
- “Recognize the situation and clarify in writing.
- Define action steps.
- Use assertive and objective language and use ‘I’ statements.
- Be prepared to disagree assertively or to state an opinion.
- Use appropriate body language.”
Check out the entire article to learn more.
Summer
Nothing says summer like shrieking, laughing kids running through a sprinkler! My neighbor wanted to water her lawn and offered to let the kids run though it while it was getting watered. It did not take long for the kids to congregate and have loads of fun.
Summer also is signaled by cherries…and so I made a cherry clafoutis. It is the little things that make me smile!
Backyard Transformation
We bought a house one and a half years ago that in my mind “needed very little work” yet we have been non stop in improvement mode! The latest project was the backyard. We really wanted to create something that was usable three quarters of the year in the rainy Northwest.
We began with building a garage last August and then six months ago by removing a very big Birch tree. Then we perused through books and magazines trying to find our inspiration. Eric drew up the plans and I vetted contractors and prices. We settled on a contractor, and although not without lots of frustration, the end result is exactly what we wanted. We even hired a landscape designer just to litmus test our design. She turned out to be totally worthless and we stuck to our original plan.
Excavation took two weeks and four guys since it all had to be done my hand. The unfortunate part was that once the excavation was completed, our contractor did work in dribs and drabs which really prolonged the project. But he did have insight and knowledge that really helped define the project.
The land was leveled (and raised in the fire pit area), a new back fence was built, pavers were brought in (115 of them at about 70 pounds each!), and the fire pit area created with salvaged sauna benches from 1994! We looked for a fire pit, but could not find one we liked so we had a welder create what we wanted. The welder also built the metal legs for the benches. Then the garden box was built and plants were put in. We bought a new natural gas grill last weekend and the final piece is a few more plants and to build the chicken coop. We cannot wait to hang out in our new backyard all summer!
Zucchini and Thai Basil Pancakes
As I peruse magazines, I am always tearing out recipes that I want to make. In the May 2012 issue of Sunset Magazine I saw this recipe and had to make it. What could possibly be better than zucchini and basil together?!
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/zucchini-thai-basil-pancakes-50400000121009/
The results were quite good.
seniyegroff 