Year after year after year I look forward to summer, imagining long, sunny, lazy days sipping pina coladas on the back deck. In reality, summer arrives and we are busier than ever, especially this summer with big parties to mark big events (Queenie's graduation; Luke's birthday) which left me whipped. I've been so tired I've felt old. (Although not too tired to play hours of volleyball several evenings a week. Sand volleyball Rocks.) And I have managed to drag myself out to the barn and ride every morning before I take Logan in to rehearsal for Charlotte's Web.
I've picked 20 pounds of strawberries from my local U-pick place. The ones Logan and I didn't stuff in our mouths got frozen or canned. Today was round one of picking black raspberries; our volleyball friends polished off the first cobbler I made today so after volleyball, at 10 p.m., I whipped up another. (One of these days I'll get around to posting recipes because I've got an incredibly easy but good recipe for cobbler.)
I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's new and wonderful book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which chronicles her family's year of eating local. Because of her I ordered a cheesemaking kit from www.cheesemaking.com and Logan and I spent part of an afternoon heating up a gallon of milk and turning it into a pound of mozzarella cheese. That was a satisfying afternoon; cheesemaking is pure chemistry but it felt like magic.
And yesterday I made yogurt, just to see if I could. Yep, more chemistry. I don't know if I'll keep making yogurt or cheese, but it's neat to know where these things come from.
The other day I asked Tim if he knew of anyone locally who still milked cows. Yeah, of course he does, he knows everyone. "Why?" he asked. "Oh," I said, "for making cheese. So I don't have to buy a cow." He gave me The Look and made his exit.
I hope no-one from my bag company ever reads my blog. It's easy to forget I have a job, isn't it?
My sister who lives in Colorado was here for Queenie's graduation. We did blend some of those just-picked strawberries into daquiris so a bit of my fantasy summer came true.
How's your summer going?
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2 comments:
you're exhausting me ;-)
What have I done this summer?...well, yesterday I climbed down Pikes Peak. How's that for ya?
I have the Cheesemaking Book but haven't gotten around to making my own mozzarella. Was it hard?
I think I'll wait for the tomatoes and basil to be in season and then make some myself. Then it will be caprese salad bonanza time!
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