I tend to try to make everything from scratch. Sometimes it works
out, sometimes it does not. I won't say anything more about the
marshmallows I tried to make a few years ago other than they were an utter
disaster. Which reminds me, so were my milk chocolate malted milk balls.I was a fool to try to replicate the
Malteaser.
Suffice it to say, I am not a good candy maker... BUT... I can CAN make cheese. Truth be told, I can only make
one kind of cheese:
paneer.
I've been making this cheese for years (because its so ridiculously
easy and tasty and in many of my favorite Indian dishes) and part of the
recipe calls for placing some kind of weight atop the curds gathered in
a muslin cloth. This helps to drain excess moisture.
Never having had a weight heavy enough, in the past I've made towering columns of canned beans stacked on a dinner plate over a colander in sink. Interesting looking, though not very safe or effective.In my recent move into this new apartment I rediscovered my old iron. It used to be a long forgotten book-end, but now it's a cheese press! This green beauty weighs 7 pounds and does the trick in 30 mins as opposed to hours of the leaning tower in the sink.
To make paneer all you need is:
- 1/2 gallon whole milk
- 1 quart buttermilk
- fine muslin cloth
{cheesecloth is a little too porous and your cheese will stick. Certainly not the end of the world, but so much easier with muslin}
Boil the milk in the pot, slowly. Remove any skin that might form on top and try to keep bottom from burning. When you reach a boil, turn off heat and add entire quart of buttermilk and stir constantly. The curds start to separate from the whey (which is a funny green color). When this is complete, pour the contents of the pot into you muslin cloth which is draped on the inside of your colander. Drain, and gather the ends of the cloth and tie into a knot, which also helps push out moisture. Then add a weight and drain further. I like to keep the cheese bundle on top of my colander, which I turn over and leave in the sink.
I've also made this with fresh lemon juice (bascially you need an an acid to separate the curbs from the whey) but I prefer the taste of the buttermilk for this recipe.
p.s. Blog - I'm fiddling with your layout... you may notice some changes.
Wow...what a response! I sold my first beast pillow the other day on Etsy, and since then I've been getting tons of orders. Its wonderful, and a little overwhelming! I'm been frantically knitting trying to keep up. But since each one is knitted by hand by me, and only me, its take a while.
Nice message inside the cap of a delicious sparkling beverage.
The letters are final up on the title wall, but still more to do. The exhibition I'm working on, Breaking Ground: Chinese American Architects in Los Angeles (1945-1980), opens at the Chinese American Museum on January 19th. If you're in LA, come check it out! It's part of the Pacific Standard Time initiative.
My very dear and talented friend Catherine has started making jewelry. And just in time, because not only have I a lost a few pairs of earrings lately (I'm so mad!) but I'm also just bored with the little jewelry that I have. She had a sale last night and I now own a pair of earrings that I love so much, I can't stop wearing them, even though I was in my pajamas all day. (Top pic, lower left, the ones with the triangle cut outs)
I drove to Austin, Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday. It took me 3 days to get there, but I decided to do the drive home in two days instead. I arrived last night after a very long day of driving, which included sitting on the highway for 2 extra hours without moving an inch just after crossing the California state border.
Hello again Blog!
The most amazing house plant set-up. Home of Maurizio Zucchi. I need to get some plant stands like these And taller plants. Tout de suite.
This beautiful artist in residency residence....
New blog love: odette
And lastly, clean graphics and branding approach by Anagrama.
The little concrete vases with wire holders are lovely. And delicate.
