Our friends, S&K, are coming over for dinner tonight. We're having our postponed New Years Eve dinner, so we've been busy in the kitchen since yesterday.
DH made some more cheese yesterday. One gallon of milk (sorry, I have to keep writing that as I can't believe it's so much!) went on making a Cheshire, which we will be able to eat tonight; the second gallon (!) is being made into a Cheddar, which will take 2 or 3 months to mature. DH is using his home made "dutch press" for the first time.
Our Brie from the other week is still ripening. It's delicious, but it's young and firm. I like my Brie like that, but we're hoping it will go all the way, if we can resist eating it. We'll have some tonight, although I seem to remember that K prefers English-type cheeses.
We're having Chicken Liver Pate to start, and DH is busy making this as I type. We've made this twice before, the second time being on the ill-fated New Years Eve. I've got a sort of brown/malty/bread thing going on in the breadmaker, and I thought I'd make some Irish Soda Bread as a contrast. I've got a big jug of buttermilk in the fridge which needs to be used up.
I'm making apple pie and home made custard as soon as the pate is in the fridge. The apples are bought in, but the pastry and the custard will be home made. Custard with our girls' eggs is always wonderful, and a really vivid colour which comes from the bright orange yolks.
I really like having S&K to dinner, it's one of the few times when I don't feel self-conscious about trying to make things from scratch. If the food works, it's great; and if we have a disaster, it doesn't matter.
DH made some more cheese yesterday. One gallon of milk (sorry, I have to keep writing that as I can't believe it's so much!) went on making a Cheshire, which we will be able to eat tonight; the second gallon (!) is being made into a Cheddar, which will take 2 or 3 months to mature. DH is using his home made "dutch press" for the first time.
Our Brie from the other week is still ripening. It's delicious, but it's young and firm. I like my Brie like that, but we're hoping it will go all the way, if we can resist eating it. We'll have some tonight, although I seem to remember that K prefers English-type cheeses.
We're having Chicken Liver Pate to start, and DH is busy making this as I type. We've made this twice before, the second time being on the ill-fated New Years Eve. I've got a sort of brown/malty/bread thing going on in the breadmaker, and I thought I'd make some Irish Soda Bread as a contrast. I've got a big jug of buttermilk in the fridge which needs to be used up.
I'm making apple pie and home made custard as soon as the pate is in the fridge. The apples are bought in, but the pastry and the custard will be home made. Custard with our girls' eggs is always wonderful, and a really vivid colour which comes from the bright orange yolks.
I really like having S&K to dinner, it's one of the few times when I don't feel self-conscious about trying to make things from scratch. If the food works, it's great; and if we have a disaster, it doesn't matter.
