Save Our Schoolhouse

Another word or two about Star Lake's 2012 Save Our Schoolhouse fun run. We participated again this year.

 And we were able to add to our collection of trophies.

One thing was different this year. They had another nice commemorative tee shirt.

But this time our name was on the back.

 

Garlic Chicken "Noil"

This image shows a recipe of Garlic Chicken "Noil" this evening, just as the burner was about to be turned on and cooking was to begin. You may notice chicken thighs, crushed garlic, and snipped rosemary. The concoction is slowly sauteed over very low heat, then browned briefly, and at the last minute the well-cooked chicken absorbs a small glass of red wine.

Thanks for the recipe to our longtime friend Arnold G., who based it on a remembered family recipe (note that I used 'longtime friend' instead of 'old friend').  'Noil' is the rendering of  'Arnold' by our daughter, then (more than 40 years ago) just learning to talk.

Easter Bunnies

The damn bunnies are on the mantel where they belong. See their story here.

Athos View Farm

When our friends Arnold and Ismini returned to Greece after our cheese-making adventures, he started a blog. Arnold has been making great wine for years and will be blogging about it, as well as gardening and traveling in Greece and the US. Check out the Athos View Farm blog.

Friends and Cheese Curds

Arnold and Ismini visited last week. It had been much too long since we had all been together. We talked and laughed. We hiked at the Lower Suwannee Refuge, strolled all around Cedar Key, had Edie's fantastic crab bisque for brunch at Kona Joe's, walked Jake the noble Golden Retriever through Cemetery Point Park each day, and best of all...made cheese curd!

Rest in Peace Sheriff Joe

When we moved to Gainesville we lucked into having great next-door neighbors. The day we signed for the house I would have much rather been in Rochester with my Rooney cousins. My Aunt Pauline had died and we closed for the house on the day of her funeral. I called the florist recommended by the hotel where we were staying, Crevasse's, ordered flowers and told my story. It turned out that I was talking to my new next-door neighbor, Peggy, and we have been friends ever since.

She and her daughter, and her retired Dad lived there. He had served longer than anyone else ever has as our Sheriff. He was a flower enthusiast. My yard and several other neighbors' yards are filled with the day lilies, shrubs and trees he shared. It is so nice to have good neighbors.

He died this week at 96 and the funeral was a Gainesville event. The church was standing room only. The procession of officers cars leading us from the church to the cemetery was too long to count. He lived long and will be well remembered.

Late Christmas Visit

Christmas lasted a whole month this year. Lucky for us! Meg, Pam and James came last weekend to continue our holiday celebration, now that the holidays are over for Meg's Cheese to You customers. We spent a whole day making cheese curds. It would be hard to beat that for fiesta-style entertainment in our family. Hours together in the kitchen, followed by days of feasting on our own handmade cheese.

2 gallons of fresh goat milk

Adding the culture

Checking the recipe

Letting it rest after adding the rennet

Just the right consistency. The slit stays after the spatula is inserted.

Cutting the curds, horizontally, vertically, diagonally.

Separating the curds and whey.

James stirs the curds gently for 45 minutes.

Ready to press by hand

Pam pressing the curds

Russ and Meg drain the curds

Cheddaring the curds

Cut, salted, squeaky as can be, ready to eat!

We also took down the tree, enjoying again at all the mementos we hang every year. And James treated us to dinner at Ichiban...a favorite for all of us. Now we need to start planning birthday visits :)

Early Christmas Visit

We had a great weekend. Pam and James came for an early Christmas celebration. It is very nice to have Christmas start in mid-December and not end until mid-January when the four of us will get together with Meg and Steve. A month of Christmas beats a day!

What did we do? Friday evening we had our traditional Christmas Tamale Dinner, fixed by Russ while the rest of us put up the tree. That was followed by our 2nd Annual Cul-de-Sac Neighbors' Christmas Party. We roasted chestnuts on an open fire pit. Actually, Ralph did all the roasting work...thank you Ralph. The rest of us ate them, and the other goodies we all brought along. It was warm enough for no jackets!

Saturday was rainy and cool, but no problem because the plan was to make pick grapefruit in the backyard and make it into marmalade, then to pickle some okra and green bean. Amazingly, the results of a day of cooking made it back to VA on the plane without breaking.

Sue using a fire log for a foot stool :)

You need this much sugar for 40 half-pints of grapefruit marmalade

Marmalade's done...on to the pickles!

50-Year Mercy Reunion

Fifty years since 1961...having not gone back to my high school in all that time, it seemed right to go this year. And it was. I greatly enjoyed seeing everyone and hearing what they have been up to. It was also nice to be back in the building. The school is going strong.

More photos are here. I fermented more about it on our Random Ferments blog

Back from the North Country

My spent much of August in Star Lake, NY again this year. We went to Montreal from there for a day at the American Cheese Society Conference and to attend the Festival of Cheeses. This year over 1600 American made artisanal cheeses were on display. See the photos here.

Meg, Pam and James came. We ran in the Save Our Schoolhouse Fun Walk Run. Russ came in second to Gary in the men's 60 to 69 age group, but both were beat by classmate Bonnie. She, Gary, Russ and the others in their class celebrated having graduated from Clifton-Fine High School 50  years ago.

Larry and Donna visited. Well actually they came to see Jake, but we enjoyed their company too.

We saw Cousin Charlene, who looks wonderful and laughed at all our jokes. Russ's mother's friend Agnes, who is now well into her 90s, had us over for lunch at her house in Carthage. Gary, Tracy, Aaron, and Kayla were there.

What a great trip! The lake was even warm enough for non-teenagers and good-old dogs to swim in.