Beads and oh, yes.... Cheese!

I've been trying to get a good picture of this set since I made them. We have a sunny day today, so I took them outside and snapped this picture.

They are truly a gorgeous organic set of beads. I made them pretty much the same way as the big one I made into a pendant a few weeks ago because I knew they would be beautiful in a bracelet.

If you look at the enlargement of the third bead from the left, shown here, you can see how complex and amazing they are.

The little silver dots add just the right sparkle too!

I'll be getting back to the redware beads again as soon as I have a chance to torch again.

BUT! The other huge thing I really need to try VERY soon is to MAKE CHEESE!

Last evening, Tina & I went to a class taught by Betsy May, one of Tina's regular herb writers, at the Rosemary House in Mechanicsburg.

Ever since I read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, I've felt that I have to learn to make cheese, so when we heard about the class, we signed up.

Betsy showed us, step by step, how to make a variety of soft cheeses including goat cheese (with none of the goaty aftertaste that has kept me from eating it for years) and Neufchatel which is very similar to cream cheese.

But the Pièce de résistance was the 30 minute mozzarella!

Here's a picture of Betsy. I think she's just poured the whey off the curds for the mozzarella.

Even in the less than ideal conditions of the lovely dining room of the Sweet Remembrances Tea Room (next door to the Rosemary House) where the class was actually held, she made it look easy enough that I logged on to the computer this morning and ordered the hard to find ingredients (like Rennet and Lipase) to make our own.

Watching her make the soap - I mean cheese - reminded me so much of our soapmaking adventures. Mixing up the rennet ahead of time, heating the milk, waiting for the curds to form ... it just seemed vaguely familiar.

There were 16 people there and we ate every bite of the (about 2 pounds of) mozzarella! I wish I could have brought some home for DH to try, but I'm sure he'll be trying some soon enough.

I just can't wait to get everything we need together and make some. Wow! That and a homemade loaf of bread - I'm golden!