Herbs

One of my farmer clients has fresh herbs for sale, already! She and her husband start their plants in January and they are now ready to go. I have to go and get some fresh basil and chives. I bought chives in the grocery store and they are huge....more like scallions, not the delicate wispy greens I was hoping for. Every Winter I vow to keep a pot or two of herbs going and every Winter, I get side tracked and the frost comes. This year I did pull my wine barrels into the little greenhouse, which did prolong the inevitable. However, hubby did some housecleaning and mid January pulled them outside. So much for that experiment! My plan now is to buy some of the ready to go herbs and create a fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil arrangement. Oh, for fresh garden tomatoes about now! Those luscious sun warmed orbs, nature's perfection! Soon, soon! The sun is out and the lady bug (beetle) brigade continues. My home is surely the designated landing space for their entire population.

I'll post the moz recipe soon! Anticipation.

Back to the blog!

I'm back! I've been taking a break from the blog to finish my book and teach a few cheesemaking classes. It is amazing how many people there are who want to learn to make cheese! Cheese is one of the those mystery foods that no one is sure exactly what is involved. So it is great to be able to share and bring the joy of cheese to those who are interested. We meet for 5 weeks and learn to make chevre, a molded goat cheese, a bloomy rind, cheddar and mozzarella. My goal is for everyone who takes the class to be able to make cheese on their own. So far, so good! We are linking up cheesemakers with milk producers, so it is a win win situation.

My neighbor's goats kidded last weekend, so there are kids running about the neighborhood! What fun. Kids and lambs are surely the best cure for the winter blues. They hop, skip and tumble and make me smile just thinking about them.

Tonight's cheese making selection includes: Chevre with crushed black pepper and a soft goat cheese served with pears, pecans and local honey. This combination is elegant and impressive.