Such a cute fellow! I have a soft spot for alpacas. I wonder what he'd look like with some subwoofers.

We're headed down the street to Darren's best friend's with a freshly made cheesecake for New Year's Eve. Happy 2008, everyone! If you're on the bottle, stay off the throttle!

I had a horrible migraine yesterday, so I'm sort of scraping the bottom of the three-good-things barrel. Which is the point, right?

1. The Pats are 16-0! I do love me some Tom Brady.
2. My bread is getting better and better. I made two loaves pre-migraine yesterday that were definitely yummy.
3. I got the details of the engagement of our friends Jack and Sarah! So excited to go to their wedding.

I'm still desperately trying to think of a domain name for my website. I've decided I want it to cover more than just cheese. Most of what I do (or want to do) involves fermentation, but not all of it. I want a domain name that somehow references cooking or preparing or hell, I don't know. Help me! I'll send you jelly and cheese and bread if you come up with the domain name I use!

Three good things, you ask?

1. I got off at 1:00! The tribe I work for has such awesome business hours...
2. I spent some time with my friend Dawn this afternoon. She and her kids are awesome.
3. I made my first bread in my new mixer! Conor's spending the night with Dawn's son, so Anna and I are cooking up a storm together.

Help

I guess I've decided to start a new website about my mad cheesemaking skillz. Which is better? www.cutthecurd.com or www.tocurdornottocurd.com (thanks, Suz!)? Got a better idea?

Three good things today:

1. Conor woke up this morning just to kiss me goodbye.
2. It snowed bonkers this morning but the road to work was just fine.
3. I got a project for Tribal Council dumped on me late this morning. It certainly wasn't my project to start with, but I'm thrilled that it's done and not hanging over my head!

I'm going to try really hard to post three good things about every day. I need to find ways of appreciating my life more, and maybe this will help.

1. Dinner with Mom and Dad was delicious, and the conversation was interesting.
2. Anna hugged me spontaneously.
3. I got to talk to my sister.
4. I got a blog comment from Niki!

So, four things. There were many more good things, but these four were the best.

Made a really delicious cream cheese yesterday. I added chopped fresh basil. Tastes great on a cracker. Could use a little more salt...

My second favorite Christmas song. John Lennon is just so amazing.

Merry Christmas!

The kids didn't get much because they're getting snowboarding lessons next week. They do look cute in their new snowpants...

My wonderful husband got me something I've wanted for ten years or so--a KitchenAid stand mixer. It was way too much money, but I'm thrilled and touched. What a guy.

We actually went to church last night--Episcopalian--and the church didn't collapse. First time I've been to an Episcopalian mass. Anna hated every second. Conor loved it.

I have to confess that I'm really really enjoying this blogger thing. I keep thinking of things I want to blog about. I really should write those things down, though, because I forget them.

I'm sort of sad because a year ago, we were finishing up the trip of a lifetime. I feel lucky that we took the trip, but sad that we haven't gone to any more foreign countries. There's always 2008, right? I find I need to have a trip planned to keep me going day-to-day. We're planning on heading to Mexico in April, so that's what's doing it for me right now.

I made an excellent-looking cheddar a few nights ago. It's drying right now, then I need to wax it. I'm currently making cream cheese with herbs and garlic for Christmas dinner. I hope it turns out--it looks a little yogurt-y right now. I'm sort of thinking of starting a whole website devoted to cheesemaking. There's nothing really out there for newbies, and it would be nice to find other folks that are in the same boat I'm in.

Conor and I were going to attend the Episcopalian church this morning, but he's been puking since about 3:00 am, poor bebe. That's fine--the church probably would have collapsed around us. Maybe we'll try for a Christmas mass somewhere.

I have a big post about Anna and Ritalin rattling around in my head. I need to write it and post it. Today, maybe.

We now return you to your regularly-schedulted Christmas music.

Gotta love Jose Feliciano. I really can't speak Spanish, but this song makes me feel pretty Christmas-y.

Funny story--I had to take a year of Spanish to graduate from my liberal arts college. Physical Chemistry? No sweat. Calculus? Bring it on. Spanish II? Not so hot. I barely passed--my only C.

Anyway, my Spanish II instructor was fired because she kicked a student who shoved his ass in her face at a local bar. This was during the 2004 elections. He was showing off a t-shirt with a Republican slogan. She was vocal about her dislike of the Republican party, so he told her to kiss his ass and offered it to her literally. She kicked him to get him out of her personal space. He contacted the Republican National Committee and was told to alert the press. It was all over the news for a few days, and she was asked to resign. Poor lady.

In other news, Darren's job might be up in the air. His boss has been demoted and the whole department is basically being dissolved and being taken over by the Director of Nursing. Darren's job is probably safe by now because he's one of only two in the department who do diagnostics as well. Then again, it could mean more regular, normal hours for him. I'm really not too concerned. He's pretty resourceful and I am sure he will do his best to take care of his kids.

For some reason, I'm a little down about work. I wanted to take the day after Christmas off, but my boss said "nope" because she'll be gone, her boss will be gone, and my supervisee will be gone. I have a shitton to get done before the end of the year, so I'm trying to tell myself that it is good I have to work. I'm supposed to get a raise and retro-pay from October 1, but that hasn't happened yet. Things are up in the air with the tribal council. Morale is crappy. Normally I love my job, but right now I'm just struggling.

Haven't had a drink in almost two weeks. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Josh Ritter

So this song, "To the Dogs or Whoever", isn't a Christmas song. It just made me so happy when I heard it for the first time a few days ago that I had to find it and download it and share it with anyone and everyone. He sort of reminds me of Bob Dylan. Lizzy, I bet you'll love him tons--"Girl in the War" is amazing but too depressing for me to post.

Posting lyrics is so 2001, but I can't help it. These are brilliant:

I love the way she looks in her underwear
I lose my page in the book then the plot then I swear
She makes the most of her time by loving me plenty
She knows there'll come a day when we won't be getting any.

Elvis is in the building!

As a rule, I'm not a huge Elvis fan. Anna started singing this song a few days ago, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Gotta admit, he was pretty hunky...

Dick in a Box

This really started my fierce Justin Timberlake love. I thought he was cute before I saw this, but now I want to find a way to bring him home and feed him a sandwich. Anna thinks I'm crazy--she's not a big fan.

I've never been lucky enough to receive a dick in a box for Christmas. Maybe this year.

Missed a day, whoops.

Darren's been gone since Friday. He goes on trips occasionally to train with Suarez International. I don't know exactly how to explain it except he's literally a weekend warrior. My husband loves guns. There's nothing I can do about it. I dislike guns. It's just one of those things that wasn't a deal-breaker in the beginning for either one of us, so we just have to accept one another's beliefs. Really, his hobbies shouldn't be a big surprise as he was a Navy Seal...

Anyway, the coolest thing happened while he was training this weekend. He was asked to become an instructor! That's just huge for him. That would be like someone asking me to teach people how to make jellies and jams. It won't make him rich, but it will make him very satisfied.

Making Cheese

I made my first cheese last night. Here's the recipe I used:

1 gallon whole milk
1 package buttermilk starter from leeners.com
cheese salt
1/4 rennet tablet

First, I warmed up the milk to 90º F. Then I put the buttermil starter in the warmed milk and let it sit for about half an hour. I kept the milk warm by placing it in a roaster full of water heated to about 150º F.

Meanwhile, I dissolved a pinch of cheese salt and 1/4 rennet tablet in 1/4 cup of distilled water.

After the half hour was up, I put the water with the salt and rennet tablet in the warmed milk and stirred for about 30 seconds. I removed the pan from the warm water, covered it, and let it sit for about an hour.

Here's where I went, wrong, I think. I cut the curd before it was ready. I guess. I don't know really, but my cheese is very crumbly.

Anyway, after cutting the curd, I cooked it to help express the whey. I cooked it at 120º F for about an hour, again using the water bath in the roaster.

After an hour, I poured the curds and whey into a colander lined with muslin. I drained the curds and salted them with about a teaspoon of cheese salt.

I folded the muslin over the top of the curds and put the whole shebang into the cheese press/mold. I set half a gallon of water (about four pounds) on top of the mold for about 15 minutes, then increased the weight to about eight pounds (or one gallon of water) for 12 hours. I flipped the cheese (still encased in the muslin) after about six hours.

Today, I removed the muslin, salted the pressed curds, and now it's drying.

As I said, the cheese is very crumbly. I can only imagine I cut the curd too soon. I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong, though, as I've never even seen cheese made before. It's possible that I didn't let the buttermilk starter do its job for long enough.

It is certainly edible though. I had a little bit already--it's very good but a bit bland.

I'll try again next weekend. Maybe I'll try a cheddar.

Reggae Christmas

Pee Wee Herman + faux reggae Bryan Adams (before he got really sappy and crappy, of course) + old school MTV VJs (Martha Quinn was my fave) = Christmas love

I love your Schweaty balls.

My parents and my kids and I went out for dinner last night. We discussed the the Saturday Night Live Christmas Special all of us had watched night before, and it turns out this skit was everyone's favorite. Not too terribly appropriate for a twelve-year-old and a nine-year-old, I suppose, but that's just how we roll around here.

I normally don't censor comedy too much--I feel like Monty Python and Saturday Night Live are perfectly fine for them. Really, the kids and I watch SNL together almost every weekend.

Christmas Wrapping--the Waitresses

In my not-so-humble opinion, this is the best Christmas carol ever. I'd even go so far as to say it is the only decent one, really. I wish there was an actual video...

David Bowie and Bing Crosby duet!

I really detest Christmas. Maybe some silly videos will help. Here's my favorite Christmas duet ever.

Phew, I'm worn out. Just got home from my department's Christmas potluck. I drug the kids along because dammit, I'm not doing that alone. Darren had to work. I think he was just avoiding the potluck.

So far no drinkies. My memory is better. I have more energy. My mood is more even. I don't think I was an alcoholic, but I do think I was on the way there. I'm planning on staying on the wagon through January. We'll see.

I made jalapeno jelly, cranberry jam, and pomegranate jelly. All three turned out really well. My favorite is the cranberry, but the pomegranate is close. I'd like to figure out some other substrate for the jalapeno jelly besides vinegar, because it's a little too hot and sour for me...

I'm planning on making cheese this weekend. Yay! I hope I remember to take pictures.

Both Anna and Conor have terrible colds. Conor's is on the downhill slide, I hope, but Anna's is just getting revved up.

My sister in Oklahoma didn't have electricity for two days due to that ice storm. Not fun with four children to feed and keep warm and entertain, I'm sure!

Work is crazy right now. It's audit time, and the end-of-the-year-financial-reporting time, and one of my co-workers got elected to the Tribal Council so I need to replace her. I'm very excited for her--she'll do a wonderful job.

The Weekend

Other than that, the weekend was great.

I made a ton of jelly, which I need to post about. I also made fudge, which didn't turn out as well as it usually does.

My sister will be thrilled and amazed to hear that I got my eyebrows waxed and shaped professionally. They are things of beauty now.

We decorated the Christmas tree. I loathe Christmas, but the kids were all excited.

We cut Conor's hair. His dreads were just too matted in spots for my liking. He was sad at first, but now he says he likes shorter hair better.

It snowed lots.

We got Chai almost two years ago. He was about a month old and his mother had been killed by an animal control officer. My boss at the time took him in but his needs quickly irritated her. I called Darren and asked if we could have him, fully expecting him to say "no". He was thrilled, much to my surprise, so he came home and quickly became Anna's dog. She did a really good job of taking care of him. He's half rottweiler and half lab, as near as we can tell. He's the sweetest thing, but really dumb.

Legend joined us this summer. He was at a local Petco adoption clinic. Darren just could not pass him up. He's my best baby, but he really loves Conor the most. He's very smart and sweet. He's definitely half basset hound and maybe half red heeler or something similar, so he's low and long and very very mellow, especially for a puppy.

I still need to take pictures of our oldest dog and our kitties...

Christmas Presents for Teachers

Every year, I give the kids' teachers a little Christmas present. Usually it's fudge--milk chocolate and white chocolate. I've been giving Conor's teacher this present for five years now, as she was Anna's teacher too. I know she loves my fudge, so I'll probably make her a little again this year.

However, making fudge for seven middle school teachers is going to get very expensive. I think I'm going to put small jars of different types of homemade jellies and jams in little boxes or baskets for Anna's teachers this year.

I think I have my weekend planned out. Conor will definitely help me cook, and it's been a great way to teach him about fractions in the past. He loves to cook--he can even make pancakes by himself! Not bad for nine. Anna loses focus pretty quickly, so she'll probably give something a quick chop or stir and then ask to lick the bowl when everything is done. She can boil water, but that's about it.

Cranberry Jam

Cranberry Jam

INGREDIENTS
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1 (12-oz) bag fresh or unthawed frozen cranberries (3 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS
Scrape vanilla seeds from pod into a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add pod and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 20 minutes (jam will continue to thicken as it cools).

Purée jam in food mill set over a bowl, discarding skins and pod. Cool, stirring occasionally.

I'll definitely puree the cranberries at some point, maybe before cooking them. I'll also process this instead of refrigerating it. I might double it too, we'll see.

Tangerine Marmalade

Tangerine and Vanilla Bean Marmalade

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds tangerines, each cut into 4 wedges
1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
5 cups water
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise and crosswise
3 1/2 cups sugar

DIRECTIONS
Cut tangerine and lemon wedges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Discard seeds from fruit. Transfer fruit to large bowl. Add 5 cups water, covering fruit. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let stand at room temperature 1 day. Transfer fruit mixture to heavy large pot. Scrape in seeds from vanilla beans; add beans. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until rind is very tender and fruit begins to fall from rind, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Boil gently until mixture is 210°F, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Divide vanilla beans and boiling hot marmalade among four 1-cup jars. Cover tightly and refrigerate up to 2 months.

I'll probably process this instead of refrigerating it. I'd like to give it as gifts to Anna and Conor's teachers, and maybe even ship some.

Pomegranate Jelly

Pomegranate Jelly

INGREDIENTS
4 cups pomegranate juice
7 1/2 cups white sugar
2 lemons, juiced
1 (6 fluid ounce) container liquid pectin

DIRECTIONS
Combine pomegranate and lemon juice with sugar in a large, stainless steel saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, and at once stir in liquid pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil, and boil exactly 1/2 minute. Remove from heat, and skim off foam.
Ladle into hot, sterilized jars to within about 1/4 inch of the top. Seal, and process in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes.

I have no idea where I will get 4 cups of pomegranate juice. Maybe the health food store? Also, I need to follow the pectin manufacturer's directions so the jelly will set.

Jalapeno Jelly

Jalapeno Jelly

INGREDIENTS
3 green bell pepper, minced
2 (4 ounce) cans diced jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
6 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (6 fluid ounce) container liquid pectin
5 drops green food coloring
DIRECTIONS
In a large, stainless steel saucepan, combine peppers, vinegar, sugar, and cayenne pepper. Cook over medium high heat. Stir frequently until mixture begins to boil.
Stir in pectin; boil 5 minutes longer, stirring constantly, and mix in food coloring. Skim off foam, and remove from heat.
Ladle into sterilized jars. Seal, and process in a boiling-water canner for 5 minutes.

I'm going to try to find something else besides bell peppers. I will probably use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. I definitely won't use the green food coloring!

Edited to add that i ended up using the white vinegar. I used four fresno chilis, three jalapenos, and four cups of sugar. I think that next time I'll add 3-4 poblanos, because the jelly seems to be lacking flavor.

Thirty-five years ago today, the third best thing that ever happened to me happened.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIZZY!!!

My sister is beautiful, smart, very funny, an awesome mom, and the best sister I can even imagine. Thank you for being my sister. I love you.

A few nights ago, Conor and I went on a wild goose chase trying to find out about the arms of the Venus di Milo.

He started out with, "Mom, you know that one statue of the lady with no arms and she's wearing a skirt? What did her arms look like?"

So that sent me on a mission. I tried and tried to find a picture of what her arms might look like, but could only find descriptions--one arm wrapped around and resting on the opposite knee, the other arm extended and the hand holding an apple.

I'm really not sure how the descriptions were arrived at, except that apparently the statue was described even prehistorically.

Man, I wish I could fly that kid to the Louvre! I'm surprised it even made his radar. Sort of scary what he notices, really.

Yes, Conor has dreadlocks. However, we wash his hair every other day and have from the beginning. No, I'm not crazy about them, but he and his dad love them so I'm trying not to be a control freak.

The children had a great time taking pictures of themselves tonight. By the time I intervened, they were tired and didn't want to do anything serious.

This summer, Anna saved over $300 to buy her own digital camera. She knows all the ins and outs of it. She used some funky filter for these pictures and like I said, I couldn't get them to do anything halfway normal. Oh well--I'm trying to move past trying to convince them that my agenda is the best agenda!

Hobbies

I just ordered the supplies to make cheese. My first attempt will be a farmhouse cheddar, I think. Or I might try mozzarella first, because that's supposed to be super easy. At any rate, I'll be posting pictures and recipes here.

I'm also going to try my hand at baking bread. To that end, I'm really hoping that Santa brings me a Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer. I love homemade bread, but I hate kneading it!

This weekend I'm making jalapeno, pomegranate, and some other type of jelly for the kids' teachers. Usually I make fudge every year, but I'm thinking jelly might be fun too. I'll definitely send some to Suzanne, too.

Back in the day, Darren and I brewed beer. I'm not real interested in going back to that, but we are planning on making wine. We need to plant grapes first. I'm hoping that sangiovese grapes will grow well around here.

Remember back when all I wanted to do was sew? I haven't sewn a darned thing in over two years. But this cooking thing sure is fun.

Anna and Conor One Year Ago

Here are my crazy kids, almost one year ago. They had their hair braided in Belize--this was taken on the cruise ship right after.

Yes, I know they have red eyes. I could have fixed that, but decided against it because the red eyes more accurately reflect their personalities.

Nowadays, Anna's hair is much longer and Conor has dreadlocks. I'll have to post more recent pictures of them for your viewing delight.

We've been lucky enough to do quite a bit of traveling as a family. We've been to Mexico several times, and Belize once. The kids have swum in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and have seen New York City. I feel lucky that we can (hopefully) give our kids a decent view of the world, not just of our beautiful little hometown.

Anna got a 3.4 GPA her first quarter of middle school, and she requested a trip to see "Spamalot" in Las Vegas as her reward. We went just before Thanksgiving.

We had an amazing time. We stayed at the Excalibur. The show was terrific. The Hoover Dam tour was amazing. All four of us rode the roller coaster at New York, New York and the Big Shot at the Stratosphere. We loved walking through the hotels on the strip and watching the fountains at the Bellagio.

My favorite part though? Was when Conor, after a really amazing dinner, spontaneously asked the waitress at the Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill to give his compliments to the chef. The waitress looked a little surprised and remarked, "He must watch a lot of Food Network..." The funny thing is, he doesn't. Not even sure how he knew what to say. But it sure was cute!

I'm a longtime Livejournal user looking for a new home.

I live in a small town in Colorado, and absolutely love it.

I have two awesome kids, and a wonderful husband. Two cats and three dogs hang around here too.

I work for an Indian tribe. I'm lucky enough to love my job.

I intend to write about my interests, travels, and family. Things get hectic around here, and I don't want to forget a thing.