Cheesy Update

So, I tried my queso blanco today. I'm not sure exactly how hard it's supposed to be, but mine was quite soft. It tasted great though. Very much like boursin - crumbly but spreadable. The pepper taste made it especially Boursin-ish. I'll definitely make this again.

Smell my cheese, you mother!

Squeaky cheese

I am a huge dairy fiend and recently got to eat proper cheddar cheese curds. They are amazingly tasty so I set about trying to find out how to make them. Turns out it's a bit tricky without complicated ingredients, but on my travels I found this recipe for Queso Blanco.

It looked ridiculously easy so I've given it a go. I changed the quantities of the recipe though, to suit those who don't eat a crazy amount of cheese:

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QUESO BLANCO

1 litre whole milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice
salt

I first heated the milk on a medium heat in a saucepan until it reached 185 degrees Fahrenheit (just before boiling).


Then added the lime juice to separate the curds and whey. This simmered for 2 minutes at the same medium temperature.


The cheese was then decanted into a cheesecloth-lined colander to drain the whey, and sprinkled with salt.

At this point you can add anything you like. I was going to add roasted red peppers, but I couldn't get the jar open, so I opted for just a sprinkle of black pepper.



The linen is then tied over the tap to drain for another four hours (or overnight).


I can't wait to try this later. I'm also keeping the drained off whey for making ricotta tomorrow :)

A year in the life...

2009 has been a pretty great year. It's hard to believe that I've been living in Canada for 12 months, yet I've packed more into those than the last few years combined.

This time last year I was celebrating Christmas and New Year with my family and friends back home, and preparing to go back to work at Birmingham University to finish off the last two weeks of my contract as a Distance Learning Manager. Come January 15th and my flat was empty, and I was packed ready to go.

When I arrived in Newfoundland it was late at night, and covered in snow. Arriving without a winter coat was soon to be regretted. Still, it's been lots of fun and here are a few features of my year.

Living in a province where the snow doesn't disappear until May takes a bit of getting used to. The discovery of the existence of snow pants and yaktrax made my life much more comfortable.

The view from our front door - this is the top of the steps

Cross country skiing is fun, if a little dangerous if you have no skills.


Back in April, when the UK was having a delightful Spring, the pack ice arrived. I have never seen anything like it, and I felt positively messianic walking on water.

I walk on water. Just wait till you see my other party tricks.

After the pack ice disappeared, the iceberg came. It was lodged in Quidi Vidi Harbour for a week or so, but this was as close as we got.


A trip to Bell Island saw some impressive icicles, and some nice cruziana fossils.

These are taller than me, but I have no scale.

In June we drove to Prince Edward Island to dig up worms for L's work. During the trip we witnessed such marvels as the World's Biggest Blueberry, the PEI Potato Museum, and a lot of Anne of Green Gables-related kitsch.

World's Biggest Blueberry, Nova Scotia

In July I returned home for the purposes of field work. I had the fun of driving a big white van from Birmingham to Croatia, where we experienced the worst weather in decades. Still, the archaeology was great!

Inside Diocletian's Mausoleum, Split

On my return to Newfoundland I had the opportunity to go excavating on Signal Hill. Being more of a non-invasive archaeologist, it was a treat to handle a trowel again.

In September an intrepid group went on a camping trip to the Baie Verte Peninsula. The main purpose of which was to see the amazing steatite quarry used by the palaeoekimos at Fleur-de-Lys a couple of thousand years ago.


This wasn't the only highlight, however, as we also discovered the bizarre abandoned town of Tilt Cove, which has a murky past...



In October I took a trip to Quebec City with some archaeological reprobates. Much fun was had and large quantities of hot chocolate and poutine were consumed, whilst trying to remember my schoolgirl French.

Chez AshTon, home of poutine

The Irish Loop was the next destination as L's parents came to visit. The highlight was Mistaken Point where we got to see incredible precambrian fossils, which are soon to become a World Heritage site.

Spindle fossil, Mistaken point

Winter returned with 39.6cm of snow falling in one day in early December. We warmed ourselves with a traditional feuerzangenbowle and gift swapping for St Nikolaus.


This was followed up by a Wassail party on the Solstice and then we took part in some Newfoundland Mummering, well, the parade at least, before spending our first Christmas abroad.

Any mummers 'loud in?

So, it's been an extremely memorable year, but now I find I have to return home earlier than expected. I'm going to find it hard to leave this place.

My new favourite toy

Everyone knows I loves the yarn. Fibre makes me happy, so I was excited to be doing a short course at the Anna Templeton Centre on Floor Loom Weaving. It's 5 weeks long - 4 hours every Saturday - and I'm past the half way mark. Week 3 was when I actually started weaving. The 8 hours' setup means that I will never again question why handwoven things are so expensive!

Week 1 was working out the project, choosing the yarn, and winding the warp. We had a whole wall of yarn to choose from:



But I went with these:



The next stage was winding the warps. This one's not actually mine - I forgot my camera the first week.




Week 2 was setting up the loom.



We're using Le Clerc Floor looms, which have 4 shafts and 6 treadles. I want one of these beasts, but I doubt I have the money or the space. Threading the reed, transferring it to the loom, and threading the heddles took an age and was back-breaking.

Eye wire heddles

Threaded heddles

Week 3 I actually started some weaving.



I had a yard extra for samples so I messed about with plain weave first. I was pretty pleased with the results but my edges are fairly dire. That's what hemming is for anyway!





My proper project is in twill, so I'll post those when I'm a bit further on. I can say I'm very happy with the results though - not bad for a first try :)

Lost voice

It's finally happened. My accent has changed. I was hoping to survive unscathed but alas it was not to be. I haven't gone Canadian - my sentences don't all end with 'eh', and I haven't picked up such mannerisms as 'where're you to' (though I quite like that one). Nope, I've gone posh.

When I first arrived I was in a lab with all Newfoundlanders (as opposed to my other half, who's shacked up with a huge European contingent). Most of the time we got on fine but one guy just didn't have a clue what I was saying. To be fair I couldn't really understand him either. We both used far too much slang and spoke too fast.

In shops I either had people look at me like I was crazy or gush at how exotic I was. This seems to be the main divide in my experience. It's really embarrassing to stand there while the secretary in your department tells you how wonderful your voice is and that she could listen to you all day. Believe me, she'd soon get bored. On the other hand it's infuriating to ask an unlabelled person in a shop whether they work there 6 times and just have them gape at you like you're some kind of freak then get annoyed with you.

As a result I seem to have inadvertantly dropped the slang and poshed right up. So much so that I can't remember how to speak with my normal accent. I was already pretty well-spoken so it wasn't a giant leap, but now I can't go back without speaking to someone from home. Liam has started to mock me on how ridiculous I sound. As a result, it's also made me pretty angry everytime I meet a 'gusher'. On exiting the cinema last week after watching 'In The Loop' a woman walked past, grabbed my arm and said "ooh you could have been in the film"! I wanted to hit her. Possibly an overreaction but it was a bloody stupid thing to say. Do you find me exiting Hollywood blockbusters and, on hearing a North American accent, blather on about how they could have been the star? No, I do not. Because I am not a twat.

So, my mission now is to regain my accent at all costs, but without going too far in the opposite direction. No-one loves a cod-cockney.

Rant over.


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The importance of play

I often joke that I would never want to be below the age of 25 again. My formative years were the 1980s and I have some fairly horrific fashion mistakes to blank out, but I also dimly remember some good times wedged somewhere between the geeky angst and the ski pants with bodysuit and deck shoes combos.

Thinking back to my childhood pastimes I have three particular favourites:

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1) Duetting with myself.

As a youngster I was a bit of a musician (and still am occasionally). In junior school I used to play the recorder, and this is the reason that I have never performed in a school play - I was always the accompaniment. At home I never liked practicing, as I preferred to play in groups. As people would rarely want to play along* I used to tape record myself playing one part of the duet, then play it back and play along the other half. I don't know whose idea this was. It was probably suggested by one of my parents to shut me up, but I like to think it was my own ingenious idea. And it worked brilliantly! I spent hours at this at a time, and would still if I had a cassette recorder and my trusty book of Handel and Telemann recorder duets.

(*I blamed their lack of skill, others may argue it's because I didn't really have many friends!)


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2) Making patterns

I love art, but was never as fond of drawing 'real' things as I was abstract patterns. I loved my Spirograph, which always was great until the last turn, when it would bounce off and ruin my otherwise perfect squiggles. My set was bigger than this one, with more different sizes. I think it is lost in the wilderness somewhere now... tragic...


Another firm favourite was my Altair Design books. I think these must have been hand-me-downs as I'm pretty sure we had this exact copy, but they were amazing and instilled in me a love of geometric islamic art. I wish I had one now.


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3) The 'Worcester Sauce Contest'

When I was an early teen, my friend Mel and I used to do terrible things with food. One of which was to get the deep fat fryer out and deep fry *everything* in her mum's larder freezer, smother it all with ketchup and vinegar, and scoff to our hearts' content (I shudder to think of the calorie content of one sitting).

The second was the Worcester Sauce Contest. We'd crack open a tin of baked beans or spaghetti hoops, then we'd add as much Worcester Sauce and vinegar as we thought we could take, microwave until nuclear, then see who cried first. For those aware of my hot pepper and pickle obsession, all may be becoming clearer...

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So - music, art and food. Not much has changed in 30 years :)



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Recent projects #2

I've been a bit quiet of late. Not because I haven't had anything to post about, but more through shame. I'm reluctant to post about projects I've finished when I still feel guilty about not finishing the present I was making for the lovely Lisa's 30th birthday months ago. Lisa - I'm really sorry! I promise you'll get it before Christmas...

I've been being fairly experimental, trying to learn new techniques:

This, believe it or not, is supposed to be a sand dollar...


I've also been mucking about with recycled yarn and made a few crochet scrubbies:


I also messed about with colour work (don't look too closely - it's fairly rubbish) with this Charles Rennie Mackintosh sample:


In terms of garments I was pleased with these:

This 'Mudstone' shawl used the Old Shale* stitch and some lovely soft merino tweed wool that my marvellous brother bought me for my birthday this year. It now resides in my office where it routinely keeps me warm when the university fails to put the heating on.

(* According to one of the Earth Science profs here, there is no such rock as shale - they are all mudstones...)


This Urchin beret used to be a cardigan. (Note also my new favourite t-shirt.)


These Maggie arm/hand warmers are also made from the other tweed bought by Stef for my birthday. My very first invisible joins. I feel quite proud.


And finally, the Wispa cardigan. It cost me about 50 cents to buy the crappy acrylic fibre at a sale in the Anna Templeton Centre. It's not perfect, and if I do it again I'd make several changes, but overall not bad...


I have a few other things on the go (not least the mystery late birthday present), including my first pair of socks and my first lace. However, I appear to have destroyed my hands in making my Halloween costume for next Friday, and I'm only about a quarter of the way through. Doh!