Say cheese!

So this morning, as I might have guessed, I'm knee-deep in cooking activities, stuff in the oven that I'm timing, milk coming to the boil on top, when Gary shows up, tools ready, to tackle the toilet.

Luckily he got a phone call which kept him long enough to let me finish the activities so I was free to help or watch, as the case may be.

But this is what I was up to before his arrival.

I thought rather than order Misfits dairy, I'd make my own as I used to.  Yogurt, cheese, why not butter? Making your own means you have just the amount you need. So I sent away for butter powder, from the place I buy my milk powder.

Meanwhile, cream cheese, aka paneer.

Here's what you need

Bring the milk almost to boiling like here, right after this picture it rose up and I turned off the heat.

Then pour in lemon juice to sour it and make curds and whey 

You drain through a cloth here I'm using a piece of fine cotton, save the whey for soup, and let the bag of cheese drain until it's cool enough to handle. 

Turn it out,  off the cloth, into the strainer. Now transfer to a container to serve it from.

The whey is going into soup later in the week, with sweet potato, carrots and cashews. When they arrive from Misfits, that is.

I roasted a package of chicken thighs, along with making cheese

with berbere and salt, and that's now done,  cut into useful chunks and in the fridge for fast food.

All's well on the kitchen front.

However the plumbing has encountered complications, involving mopping, shutting off the house water, and another trip to the hardware store.  Also some concerns about the shutoff and if it also needs replacing.

At one point Jackie was summoned from next door to hold something, and before she left we chatted and she did a taste test of the cheese, declared it okay.

So here's the state of play. 

Handsome Son and I postponed our scheduled visit this afternoon, not up for peaceful chatting just now.

Fortunately I have a new sock in progress.

The second of this pair

So, all's moving along. More or less. Or say Jeez!