Monday 31 May 2010

Say cheese


The polytechnic where I work offers a diverse range of courses ranging from short one day courses through to university degrees.  My friends Chris and Twink were interested when I suggested we take a Friday off work to attend a one day cheese making course. 
An assorted group of people gathered at a little church hall on the shores of Whangarei Harbour.  One man came in his house bus.

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Our tutor was a lovely young lady named Liz (in the pink top) who also teaches the Sustainable Rural Development course to full time students. 
the class gathers

She made sure that each of us had a turn to performing each task in the process.
man stirs1

twink stirs1

While the first batch of cheese was being pressed she whipped up some flat bread for our lunch.  And so for lunch we had Halloumi warm from the frying pan and warm bread.  What a treat!
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And before long there was also Feta cheese.  Enough for us all to take a piece home. 
Feta

The next day the three of us decided that, rather than wait another day for the Feta to mature a bit, we would have it for our lunch.   And, of course, it naturally followed that we would decide to make ourselves some bread.  We’d all made bread sometime in our past and surely we would remember what we’d watched just 24 hours earlier. 
What fun!  There were three different memories at play.  Was it a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of sugar or vice versa?  A tablespoon or two of yeast?  How much flour, was it two cups or three?  Chris has dozens of cookbooks but did it dawn on us to have a look at any of them?  You’ve guessed it, no.  By the time Chris thought to have a look in one, it was too late. 
Then when it came to what we would top it with, it was a walk around the garden to see what we could find and what was to be found in the fridge.  How we managed to produce this result I’ll never know.
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Chris produced some home made soup and there was our lunch feast.
next day lunch

Don’t tell me this isn’t the good life!!
This was one of the rare occasions I did not have my camera with me.  Blame it on two late nights in a row child minding and thinking I could stay in bed a few minutes longer because I wasn’t going to work.  Thank you, Chris for being a much sharper tack than me (she always is) and sending me your photos. 

3 comments:

  1. Never made cheese. Looks fun and the end result surely does look fit for a king.

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  2. What a trio you are. What fun it must have been being on the course - especially with you three causing mayhem. And as for not having your camera with you...... What was that email you sent me the other day warning about the C-Nile Virus?

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  3. Hello Pauline, remember that show called "The Good Life" with Tom and his wife you ladies are living it. p.s Google!!!!! Has a heap of recipes.
    Have a great week, Bev.xoxo

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