Aftermath of Victory (Plus Cheese)
Well, they won. I'm enjoying being able to get to bed on time again. The first thing that I did after Papelbon's last strikeout was to call Dad. What is it about dads and baseball? I have very fond memories of this from my childhood: hitting balls that Dad pitched for me, little league, going to my first Sox game with Dad (Sox vs. Orioles. We lost, but I got to see Yaz play). Dad got season tickets to the Sox shortly after Mom died. All three of the kids instantly agreed that that was exactly a right thing for him to do. He's been enjoying them ever since. This year he was actually at Fenway when they won the pennant.
Saturday started cool and rainy, so I decided to get back into cheesemaking. This one went very well. I did a Gouda. It's the first time I've done a Gouda starting with 2 gallons of milk. The extra volume does make it easier to work with. I also got a new perforated flat ladle for cheesemaking. You can see it in the curd photo. It's much easier to work the curds with it. I felt much more confident cutting, stirring and draining the curds this time, and as a result got a particularly nice curd mass.
My best looking Gouda curds to date
The finished cheese looks nice, too. With the aging process this should be ready in late December. We'll use this one as this year's Christmas cheese.
The Gouda - Do not open until Christmas
Labels: Baseball, Cheesemaking
posted by Doug Taron @ 09:18
14 Comments:
But... but... When does the red wax go on?
;P
You're making me drool, and not over the Red Sox.
Gary- Actually, red wax will go on this cheese but not until tomorrow. The surface of the cheese needs dry before the wax can be applied. Apparently Gouda is not waxed in Holland, and obviously it's optional for me as well. I have sub-optimal aging conditions however (I mean for the cheese, though it's probably true for me personally, as well). The wax offers excellent protection from that.
That's awesome your Dad gets to enjoy a winning team. Boston's soccer team (NE Revolution) is in the playoffs too...must be good (er,gouda) times out there!
Send cheese my way!
I want some cheese too!!
Gouda is one of my favorites. Have you ever tried "smoking" your cheeses? Two of my favorites are a smoked cheddar from Tillamook and any smoked gouda.
I don't get baseball, but I get gouda.
Neat!
Happy 110th to y'all and thanks for sharing that apple cake recipe. It sounds excellent.
What a great thing that your Dad was there for the pennant!
The cheese looks delish! What day are you cutting it? ;)
IT WAS NOT a good series...I'm not upset the Sox won, just that there was NO contest throughout the 4 games! After a long summer of baseball, I want those last 7 games to be a REAL thriller, and it wasn't. Boston had 'em at the mat from the opening toss. Glad YOUR team won....
Glad you made cheese again, we're hoping we do some more of that this winter. Do you have link for that new piece of equipment? Handling the curds WAS a bit awkward before. THANKS for the post, a great one as usual.......
happy halloween and cheesemaking - di you ever get those papers on cheese?
dave- apparently Boston is doing very well on the pro and college football fronts, too. Thoush I really don't follow football.
Steve adn Heather- Well you'll just have to come to Cicago to do some sampling.
rcw - I have not yet tried it, though my book has instructions for smoking cheese. I'm still trying to get the plain kind to work out as I would like. I will try smoking cheese eventually.
FC - if you decide to try the apple cake recipe, let me know how it turns out.
Lem- I'm pretty sure that the cheese will be part of our Christmas Eve celebration.
Mark- I agree that the series was not particularly exciting (but better than the WS with the Cardinals the last time the Sox won). Still, I'm glad that they swept. I'm not sure how much longer I could have coped with the sleep deprivation. You guys have it easy on the West Coast. The games are over by 9:30.
Spo- Thanks. The papers did arrive and were very informative. Thanks for sending them.
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sj. Welcome to the Tapestry. Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the history lesson.
I had a similar thought with the end of the baseball season. Last year it was nice to get to bed on time. This year, it's nice to be able to read the news (I Tivo the games, so I can't read news without finding out who won the game I taped the night before).
That cheese sounds awesome! The waiting must suck.
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