Lord Byron's Profile

Here's another picture of Byron.  I told you he liked to pose.  This picture was originally bigger, but I cropped it down, because I wanted to focus on his profile and his long whiskers, standing out stark against the dark background.  Isn't he a handsome boy?

Byron Gets Contemplative

The other day, Lord Byron (my cat) was in a very contemplative mood.  He was a study in otherworldliness.  This is a very photogenic cat, and he is an excellent photographic subject.  Most animals get silly and self-conscious when a camera is aimed at them.  Not Byron.  He's a ham.  Isn't this a handsome picture?

The Red Dahlia

This past fall I took a picture of a red dahlia that fills me with happiness every time I look at the picture.  It was a beautiful flower on a bright sunny day, and when I look at the picture, it reminds me of how lovely the day was.  I'd like to share it with you.

Cheesemonger

A couple of days ago my sister and I had another "Baking and Bonding" day.  This time, we made cheese.  Yes, cheese!  Mozzarella, to be specific.  I'd ordered a cheesemaking kit, complete with video, cheesecloth, recipe book, rennet, etc., and we made two batches of Mozzarella.  It was great fun, and now we want to move on to the more difficult cheeses.  I plan to make "farmhouse cheddar," and my sister has already made an herbed Mozzarella, adding sun dried tomatoes and fresh herbs.  She said it was great on pizza. 

One thing we found out is to avoid ultra-pasteurized milk when making cheese. It just won't form a proper curd.  And trying to find non-ultra-pasteuriaed milk wasn't all that easy, because stores like to stock the ultra-pasteurized as it has a longer shelf life.

Here's a picture of me with the two batches of Mozzarella that we made.