Author: doug

Ehh, we’re going to bed.

Lis’s mom got me a cheesemaking kit for the holidays. I made my first batch today, mozzarella. You can then go on to make ricotta from the whey, which I did. From 1/2 gallon of milk I got 8 oz of mozzarella balls, about 6 1/2 cups of whey, and a tiny little bit of ricotta — I must have done something wrong for that part. Even I can tell that the whey is a little greenish from the cows’ diet.

We saw ImprovBoston’s holiday show tonight with a bunch of my family. It was skit-based improv, not as interactive as I was expecting, but quite funny.

Lis got me a Molecular Gastronomy kit for Christmas. My first project: tomato sauce & pesto “spaghetti” formed by mixing each with Agar and extruding from a syringe via a silicone hose in an ice bath. It’s served here with actual spaghetti under chicken parmesan.

These are not cookies.  They’re homemade breakfast sausages for New Years brunch. This year I used lamb so those guests who don’t eat pork can have some.

Lis got us tickets to go see Alton Brown in February.

I made toffee today — dark & milk chocolate covered, salt & walnut toppings — for Christmas Eve with the Jews. It’s dangerously good. I think I want to forget I know how to make it.

I think our next home-improvement project will be the loft, which is the one part of the house where we really haven’t done anything.  This will be a project for once the weather turns nice and we’re spending more time on the porch than inside. I want to be ready, so here I’m drawing out some ideas.

The first day of winter was warm enough for me to open the porch.  Ferrous wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation.

It’s not often one can enjoy Massachuetts-grown citrus, especially in December. These fruits are from the citrus tree in my co-worker’s office. He’s harvested a few dozen over the last couple months.