Camping Weekend

We headed out to the coast this weekend for a camping trip with some friends. Google maps gave us ridiculously terrible directions that landed us smack in the middle of murder road at 11:00 at night. Following Google blindly (never really a good idea), we started out on Hwy 1, made turn after turn onto progressively smaller roads (the last few had no lines) and finally found ourselves saying, "Do you think it could be down this gravel road?" We finally shook ourselves into reality and realized that Google had done us wrong. Just then, I remembered that I had printed out a brochure from the state park we were headed to and that it had a map at the back of it. Which promptly took us directly to our destination. Luckily Neil, Lindsey and Alec had headed up earlier in the day and so we arrived to find the campsite already prepared, a fire roaring and wine at the ready. Ahh, that's my kind of camping.

We stayed at Salt Point State Park which is about 18 miles north of Jenner and about 2.5 hours from San Francisco. I picked it because it was one of the only parks that still had online reservations available. Californians are serious about their camping, apparently. If you want to camp somewhere any time after June 1, you better start making your reservations in December. I don't remember it being quite that cutthroat in Oregon, but maybe I just have my rose-colored glasses on, which is usually the case when it comes to the Pacific Northwest. :)

Anyway, the campground was really lovely, with big, secluded sites set into a nice, wooded area. We got a nice big spot, large enough to accomodate all three of our tents. There was also a racoon box included, to lock all your food away from the pesky little furballs. Unfortunately, there was no lock provided, so we secured ours with a stick. Neil woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of scuffling, looked out of the tent and saw a racoon with his hand up in the cabinet, just looking right back at him. The stick held, but the racoon could still get his little paw inside. Luckily, all we lost was an apple.

We started Saturday off with a fantastic breakfast of granola, yogurt and loads of fruit, then followed that up with some tidepool exploring, where Lindsey proved to be the star of interacting with the wildlife. I don't think there was an anemone left un-touched by the time we left the beach. There were tons of little crabs scurrying around. We also saw a sea star eating a crab. I didn't know they did that. It was pretty gnarly.

Then we ate a ridiculously delicious lunch of grilled cheese and apple sandwiches. Yes, you heard me right - cheddar and apple slices, on the sandwich, and grilled. Talk about gourmet camping food. After that, we needed a nap. Although it was super-windy out on the beach, the campsite remained pretty well protected and it was really pleasant there - perfect for napping.

After waking refreshed, we ended the day's physical activities with a nice hike along the bluff overlooking the ocean.

The rocks around Salt Point are sandstone, and they are simply beautiful in the afternoon light. They are soft and tawny and warm.

We spotted some sea life - seals and well, that's all - but the seals were super-cute out sunning themselves on the rocks.

There was also some really beautiful flora - sea grasses waving in the wind, succulents in brilliant reds and contrasting greens.

 It was really windy out on the bluffs and I kept having to drag Swarley into the wind. Every time we stopped to look at something, he would try to turn around and start walking back towards the cars. When we finally did turn around, with the wind at our backs, he picked up the pace and was trotting out front, leading the crowd.

After dinner, we had a rousing game of Apples to Apples, roasted some delicious s'mores, had a lovely chat session around the fire and then headed off to bed.

We were the last ones out of the campground on Sunday morning after a leisurely breakfast. We stopped in Healdsburg at the Bear Republic Brewery for some delicious beer and lunch and then back home to the City. Camping is not exactly the most leisurely activity, I arrived home completely exhausted - but it's worth the exhaustion for so much great scenery and exploration and good times with good friends!

Warning: graphic pictures of cheese curds

I told one of my friends that I had made cheese and that I had pictures, and she thought she would be totally grossed out by the cheese curds and whatnot, so therefore, I thought I would put a general warning out there to anyone terrified of cheese curds. Do not read any further if you have a cheese curd problem. I think they look pretty cool, actually.

It's been about 3 weeks now since I made my first ever cheese (besides ricotta which doesn't count because it uses common kitchen ingredients, not special supplies), but the glow still hasn't worn off. I don't know what it is that is so exciting about making something like cheese. There is just kind of a mystique about it - it seems like a magical, complicated procedure that a common human shouldn't be able to perform without extensive training. Or something like that. So to be able to turn it out in an afternoon and have it actually taste good, is pretty darn fun. Granted, I didn't make an aged Cheddar or a Gruyere or a Gouda. I made cream cheese. But still.

So the process went something like this: Heat up a big pot of milk and cream. Add the culture that you buy from the cheese lady (http://www.cheesemaking.com/). Stir it in. Add the rennet. I used vegetable rennet for no particular reason. I guess, originally, animal-based rennet came from the stomach of cows and the thought of using stomach in my cheese...I don't know...Plus, this way vegetarians can eat my cheese! :) So you stir the rennet in, cover the pot with a tea towel and then just let it sit for 18 hours. I got up the next morning so excited to check out the cheese! It had firmed up until it was about the consistency of greek yogurt.

I cut it up into cubes and loosened it from the edges of the pot, then I poured the whole thing into a big colander lined with cheesecloth.

The curds had separated from the whey, and so you have to give it time for all of the whey to drip out of the cheese, so I rigged up the cheesecloth to dangle from the water faucet. And I just let it dangle for 8 hours or so. It really reduced in size as the whey dripped out. The cheesecloth was probably about half as full at the end of the dripping period.

Then, to finish it off and to squeeze out the last bit of whey, I put the cheese in a pasta strainer (b/c it fits so nicely into the pot), placed it over a pot, put a plate on top of the cheese in the strainer and placed a weight on top of the cheese. The book said to use a couple of bricks. Well, there didn't happen to be any bricks laying around the house, and I couldn't really put my finger on anything that heavy. Until I spied our dominos set. It worked out perfectly. I dumped them all in a plastic bag and they were nice and flexible to fit down into the strainer on top of the plate. I put the whole contraption in the fridge and let it sit overnight.

The next morning I woke up and, voila - cream cheese!! Well, close, anyway. I put the drained cheese into a bowl and kneaded in a bunch of cheese salt, and then formed them into two little patties, wrapped them in plastic wrap and it was all good to go.

I didn't get to taste it right away, because I was already late for work (cheese-making not being part of my usual morning routine), but tried it the next morning on some homemade bagels and it was really good! It was nice and creamy, with an interesting tang to it. It didn't taste anything like the cream cheese that you get from the store, but I'm okay with that.

So cheese-making success has been achieved. Next up, Mozarella!! And then I might think about investing in a cheese cave so I can move on to the aged Cheddar, Gouda and Gruyere! And then, maybe I'll get a cow and some goats to have my own milk! And then... Oh dear, this could get out of control.

Neil

Katie called me a slacker the other day for not updating my blog and I guess it is about time. What's the news been? Neil graduated about three weeks ago and had his big MFA graduate exhibition. It went well, but he was exhausted when it was all over. It was a crazy week of installation, very few hours of sleep, family, graduation, eating and we basically just crashed when it was all over. The last couple weeks have been so nice, getting to see Neil before 10pm almost every night, and having him around the house on Saturdays and Sundays! He moved all of his stuff out of his studio this week, and into a storage unit and I think that really made it sink in to him that he really is done. He's been a little bit mopey the last few days, and I don't really blame him. He's had a great couple of years. And he counted his paintings as he was moving out and he said it was around 45. So, it's been a very productive couple of years, as well.

For your viewing enjoyment, here's a little visual re-counting of his time at school, in paintings:

First semester, first year:

Second semester, first year:

First semester, second year:

Final semester, second year:

It's been quite a journey, as you can see from the shifts in his paintings every semester. So now, Neil's preparing to enter the real world again - searching the job listings and going on interviews. It's not nearly as fun as art school, but that's life, I guess. As soon as he gets a job, he'll look for a studio and continue on with the painting, and hopefully do some research into galleries.

I made my first cheese last weekend, a cream cheese that turned out pretty tasty. I have pictures and want to show you all the fun steps, but I need to make dinner now, so that'll have to wait until another day!

Cheeeeeese, Gromit

I first got interested in cheese-making when I read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver back when we were still in Portland, so atleast two years ago. It's such a lovely book and was my first real eye-opening glimpse into the world of industrialized food and what it takes to escape the system. A whole new world opened up to me as I read through those chapters. Asparagus is a perennial, modern breeds of turkeys can't have sex, and, wonder of wonders, you can make cheese in your own home. When I read the chapter on cheese-making, I practically drooled onto the book, I was so excited. I am a sucker for do-it-yourself projects and how absolutely cool would it be to make your own cheese!!

I promptly stirred up a batch of ricotta cheese, pronounced it absolutely delicious and visited the website of the cheese-making supply shop she notes in the book. (www.cheesemaking.com) I ordered the culture and the rennet to make mozzarella cheese and waited with bated breath for it to arrive. Unfortunately, when it arrived, it was the wrong culture. There are mesophilic and thermophilic cultures and mozzarella needs the thermophilic culture. I got mesophilic, for some unknown reason. I guess I mis-read the recipe. Whatever the reason, mesophilic is mostly used for aged cheeses - cheddars, goudas, etc. and me being without a handy-dandy cheese cave, those cheeses weren't really going to be easy for me to make as a beginner. You can also make cream cheese and cottage cheese with mesophilic culture and for the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't try one of these cheese. But I didn't. And the cultures and rennet sat in my fridge until we left Portland, when I carted them down here to S.F. and promptly stuffed them in the back of the fridge down here and forgot about it again. Like I've said before, I am excellent at starting new projects; not so good at finishing them. I moved on to other things, and no cheese beyond ricotta was ever made.

Fast forward to last week, when I picked up a book called "Hayfever" at the library. It's about a literary agent from New York City who purchased a farm in Vermont with her husband and started making award-winning goat cheese. I am an absolute sucker for these back-to-the-farm, make your own cheese, grow your own food type books and this one has not disappointed me so far. It's interesting to read about caring for the goats, and the milking process and the making and selling of the cheese. But most of all, it's really got me thinking about making my own cheese again. And, hey - I already have culture and rennet, right? Nope. Apparently in our move from first apartment to second I either decided that I was never going to make my own cheese and tossed them both out, or I have stored them so well in this apartment that I just can't find them.  So I got back onto that cheesemaking site tonight and placed my order for all the goods to make cream cheese and mozzarella. I figure if those two go okay and I like making cheese (which I fully expect to after my ricotta experiences), I might invest in a little mini-fridge as a cheese cave and start in on some cheddars and provolones. Mmmmm. I love cheese.

It should take a week or so for the supplies to arrive but then it's cheese - here I come. I'll keep you updated on the cheesey status! Here's hoping I don't lose focus this time.

Baby!!

I got to take a quick weekend trip home to Portland this weekend. It was jam-packed with visits and fun and shopping. But the best part was that I finally got to see my sister and the proof that she is really having a baby girl in August.

Doesn't she look great? I think she is ridiculously cute with her little bump! I even got to feel the little girl kicking. She got a little bit active the last night I was there.

I also got to do a LOT of baby shopping. I love my nephew, but it's just not the same shopping for little boy clothes. The little dresses, the little jammies and cute little hats and shoes. They all reduce me to a simpering little puddle of "oohs" and "oh's!" I could have bought out the entire store. So baby comes in August and she will only need those adorable little sundresses for probably a month, so I bought a whole range of clothing, including twelve months so I could buy some of the cute little summer clothes. This is one of the 12-month items I got:

The pink in real life is much more vibrant - really a magenta more than the pinky color in this photo. It just makes you think of summer time and those little details are citrus slices. She's going to look good enough to eat. We also hit up a second-hand store and I got a bunch of stuff there. Everything is still in really good shape and it was really affordable. Between my mom and I, little baby girl has a whole new wardrobe.

I can't wait for her to arrive! It's going to be a long four months.

Announcement

So, the title of this blog is "In a new city" and, seeing as we have now lived in San Francisco for one year and 8 months, it technically isn't really new any more, per say. Sure, there are parts of the City we haven't really gotten around to exploring, I suppose. We haven't really spent any time in Noe Valley or the Richmond districts. We've definitely made our way through the meaty stuff, though. But looking back through the blog posts from the beginning, I've definitely noticed a tapering off of juicy tidbits about the city. It's really become much more about what I do on a daily basis, and less about exploring a new city.

So, what to do to remedy this situation? Instead of changing the title of the blog, we've decided to adjust our life to match the blog title. In October this year, we will be making a coast to coast move to New York City. A new city. :) Neil will finish his program in less than a month, then we'll kind of just chill out and enjoy our last few months in our first new city. Then in October, we will head out to the Big Apple. We are planning on looking for a 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. We will use the bedroom as a studio and treat the rest of apartment as if it were a studio apartment. I am practically licking my chops in anticipation of all the planning, organizing, and financial wizardry that is lurking out there in the months of July and August. There is just something I absolutely love about apartment-hunting, job-hunting, and moving-truck hunting. And for all of you who are going to make this assumption, (I assume you will because everyone we've told has assumed this) the move to New York is not because of the art scene. We decided to do it simply because we can. We have no ties to anything solid at this point, (children, house, etc.) and when we settle back into Portland, I want it to be for good. We just kind of need to get some wanderlust out of our system. New York is exciting and a huge adventure and that's still what we're seeking at this point in our lives. I know by age 30 you're supposed to be settling down and starting a family, but I recently calculated that Neil and I have spent about 15-16 years in college, between the two of us. I did 5 years of undergrad, then 2 years of post-bac and Neil has done 2-3 years of community college, 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad. So, we're a little bit behind in all the "living" that people do around age 21-23, when normal people actually graduate from college and start their real lives.

So now it's just hurry up and wait. And try to enjoy the last few moments we have in our first new city. All the discovery has been fun and I can't wait to do it all again!!

baby seeds

I stopped by my garden on Saturday and everything is growing!! Well, maybe except for the carrots. I thought I saw a little green, but I could have been imagining it. But peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, and onions were all up. Oh yeah, I guess the cilantro hasn't sprouted yet, either. It's been so rainy here the last few weeks, I haven't even had to go water. Thanks, Mother Nature.

And another great thing - NO WEEDS!! It appears that the fat layer of dirt I layed on the plot has definitely worked as a weed-smotherer. I pulled out about 6 blades of grass, and that's it. It's such beautiful dirt, too - so rich and deep brown. So once the seedlings get more substantial, I'll probably put a light layer of compost over the whole bed to nourish and to keep everything nice and snug and warm. There's something so great about seeing your little seeds push their way above ground, though.

Here's to fresh veggies in a few months!!