Blessed are the Cheesemakers

I don’t really eat any packaged food but a good one is the MTR brand of Indian curries. It is like space food, you cut the pouch, pour it out, heat it up and taaaa daaaa. I only mention it because I had a great idea for a blog but then forgot it, so I’m hoping it will come to me. There are a kadhi pakora, a chana masala and a paneer tikka masala sitting on the side here that the doc bought for the big spunky boy. I keep forgetting to give them to him.

I can’t remember what I was going to talk about but it was really good #writeitdown. I did make some labneh though. The doc had that and crisps and a dry martini for her tea, only the best for my babes. The labnah is easy and fabulous, and you could make it if you want:

You get a big tub of the full-fat Greek yoghurt.
Mix in a teaspoon of salt. Use good salt (fuck saxa).
Put a clean tea towel or a bit of cheesecloth in a sieve over a bowl.
Pour in the yoghurt and tie a piece of string around the cloth at the top.
Shove it in the fridge for 3 days, the whey will collect in the bowl. Pour this into a jar and keep it in the fridge because you can use it to make all sort of fermented things. I will let you know what I do with mine.
Unpeel your cloth, take a pic for Instagram because you are gonna be all like “I am a cheesemaker”. Then use 2 tablespoons to make ball/egg-shaped (there is a word for this shape, it might begin with ‘c’ but I can’t think what it is!!!!) bits of cheese, it’s quite soft. Plop them into a jar full of olive oil. You can put herbs in if you want but I like it plain. Use a mild olive oil, I think mine might be a bit strong really. It’s extra virgin. Pure as the driven snow, just like me.
Have it with whatever you want. It’s nice with olives and other cheeses, with bagel chips or thrown into a lentil buddha bowl affair. If someone made me this as a gift I would be thrilled!

What else… oh well I’ve got raging PMT at the moment thanks to the perimenopause and I’m sure I will soon be bleeding to death, just in time for the annual beach holiday. I popped some oestrogen today on the off chance that it might piss off my uterus enough to start bleeding early and get it out of the way. I mean, don’t act like you’re going to start bleeding and not give me a result. I was tired today and didn’t do anything apart from taking panadol and making labneh balls. Oh, and having a bath and smearing potions on myself. I announced last night that I was a very forgiving person. Nobody bought that. Shrug.

I am pretty cheerful though really. Ya know, just intermittent bouts of rage 🙂 I am so looking forward to getting back to uni for Public Health. I love that area and there is going to be so much to learn… and also get rageful about!! Hurrah! LOL. Annual beach house holiday, a week in Koh Samui and then it’s down to hard work again.

Talking of cheesemakers there is a book called ‘Blessed are the Cheesemakers’ by Sarah-Kate Lynch that I read about 18 years ago. In the splendidly sunny west of Ireland, two twinkly-eyed, warm-hearted, mysteriously clairvoyant old farmers produce the world’s tastiest farmhouse cheeses, Coolarney Blue and Coolarney Gold. They can do this because their cows are the happiest cows in the world, their teats caressed by pregnant vegetarian milkmaids yodelling old favourites from The Sound of Music. 🙂 A nice easy summer read.