Friday lesson #1, cheesy morning

He is the nicest. I am sitting on the floor (despite all the cushioned options) wiggling my toes and typing away. This is Friday, husband is cleaning up my many dishes and I am sort of refusing to get out of my pajamas while considering attending a yoga class this afternoon. I can do yoga clothes, as long as I don't have to really commit, jeans are out of the question.
I was not a clean cook this morning. But if you are pitying "the help" turning his hands to prunes, you needn't worry. Today's lesson was homemade peach cream cheese (take that Philadelphia), homemade mozzarella, fresh butter and buttermilk. All of which originated from the same, unique, local raw milk source.

I am worried I am posting the typical cliche late summer harvest posting of a Caprese salad, but I promise it isn't. and so what if it is. There is a reason that each year we come back to this, the seasonal praising of those large unique heirlooms, pink, yellow, and rich red. Classics are and remain classics for a reason, and even more exciting this year I made the mozzarella from scratch.
check it out
First I woke up in such an excitement for lesson Friday, I usually hate mornings. I don't like to talk, be talked to, hear anything except maybe birds. It takes a few hours for me to defrost. But this morning was like Christmas I immediately skipped past all that cranky and launched straight into elated. The night before I wrapped my cream cheese in cloth and hung it up to press out the liquid. This cheese has been culturing on our counter for three days, It felt like I had a pet at home. During work I would think, "Should I have someone stop by and check on it"
Oh all so new and exciting.
So this morning I whipped up the cheese with a soft peach a bit of maple syrup and enjoyed a slather on some Popeye Pancakes (German Pancakes). I die. so good. more sour than the traditional kind. but perfect with a bit of honey as well.
Second lesson and task of the morning, Mozzarella. Definitely a bit more confusing for the first time, but very rewarding, check it out.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Here I am burning my fingers in the water stretching out the cheese hunching over my computer scouring the instructions for something I might be missing. Moments after this I screamed out,
 "Jer! Get the camera. It is working!"

I know I know, why am I stretching mozzarella outside. Well the lighting was better. So in the middle of burning my fingers off we dashed outside to take pics. 

The cheese turned out great, and I have such a new appreciation of cheese. We seem to take for granted the things we get so quickly and easily in our modern life. This also made me want to search out some local artisans, those people who really love and care about their craft. Perhaps I will become one of those. 

After my mess making, we popped two thick slices of tomato with a bit of cheese under the broil for just a minute, finished it with fruity olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil. Plated it up on my new plate I got from anthro.  check out the lizard graphic that was hiding under the tomatoes, he came out after a few bites.

Thinking of making lesson Friday a regular part of my week. I like the thought of finally getting around to all those skills I would like to learn that I have been mentioning over and over.
I may or may not post about lesson Friday. I pretty much give myself permission to change my mind.
Does anyone out there have cheese skills they would like to share with this newbie?