Lovely Day
It's Saturday August 20th. I can't believe that summer is almost over. I just can't believe that and I do have to say a big part of me is happy about it. I don't want to become one of those year-rounders that throw parties when the tourists leave, though there is a part of me, that rejoices in the thought of not having to work at least 3 nights a week and at least one weekend day.
I do love warm water and sun smashing on my face. A LOT. I do love going kayaking at high tide and I like it even during low tide. Though I don't love having to drag the kayak too far, so high tide it is.
Last night there was a group show opened at Kobalt Gallery and many people were liking my new paintings. I realized I hadn't photographed some of them. So I should swing by and do that.
It's 5:15 and I went to the Farmer's Market this morning and got some corn, tomatoes, blueberries, onions and a few other delicious things. Oh the main reason for going was the baratta. Which is mozzarella cheese filled with a soft cheese with figs and almonds inside. It is the most decadent thing I ever had. I could eat the whole ball. Best when left out for a short time to get the inner cheese to soften. The woman who makes it comes all the way from Falmouth. She make the cheese everyday.
When she doesn't show up, things are just not the same. Wonder if she has water buffalo over there in Falmouth. Have I ever mentioned the water buffalo farm I visited in Italy? It was an amazing place. There were hundreds of GIANT ANIMALS, water buffalo, have you ever seen them? The are twice the size of a cow, and they move in very gentle ways, they love the mud and they only eat organic straw, some of them have horns. I was obsessed with them while in Italy, the group toured the whole place, wondered around the places where they smoked the cheese under fire, and I was still feeding, photographing and painting them. Loved them. They rolled in the mud and sometimes rubbed their muddy horns on the neighboring beast. They were never aggressive and never mean spirited.
So these Water Buffalo are from Paestum, and some of the best on the world of mozzarella.
I decided to google water buffalo paestum and I got lots of facts, some I think I will share. This came from Wikipedia.
The steps required to produce buffalo mozzarella are the following:[21][22]
I do love warm water and sun smashing on my face. A LOT. I do love going kayaking at high tide and I like it even during low tide. Though I don't love having to drag the kayak too far, so high tide it is.
Last night there was a group show opened at Kobalt Gallery and many people were liking my new paintings. I realized I hadn't photographed some of them. So I should swing by and do that.
It's 5:15 and I went to the Farmer's Market this morning and got some corn, tomatoes, blueberries, onions and a few other delicious things. Oh the main reason for going was the baratta. Which is mozzarella cheese filled with a soft cheese with figs and almonds inside. It is the most decadent thing I ever had. I could eat the whole ball. Best when left out for a short time to get the inner cheese to soften. The woman who makes it comes all the way from Falmouth. She make the cheese everyday.
When she doesn't show up, things are just not the same. Wonder if she has water buffalo over there in Falmouth. Have I ever mentioned the water buffalo farm I visited in Italy? It was an amazing place. There were hundreds of GIANT ANIMALS, water buffalo, have you ever seen them? The are twice the size of a cow, and they move in very gentle ways, they love the mud and they only eat organic straw, some of them have horns. I was obsessed with them while in Italy, the group toured the whole place, wondered around the places where they smoked the cheese under fire, and I was still feeding, photographing and painting them. Loved them. They rolled in the mud and sometimes rubbed their muddy horns on the neighboring beast. They were never aggressive and never mean spirited.
So these Water Buffalo are from Paestum, and some of the best on the world of mozzarella.
I decided to google water buffalo paestum and I got lots of facts, some I think I will share. This came from Wikipedia.
Production stages
"The richness of buffalo milk makes it highly suitable for processing. To produce 1 kg of cheese, a cheese maker requires 8 kg of cow milk but only 5 kg of buffalo milk. Producing 1 kg of butter requires 14 kg of cow milk but only 10 kg of buffalo milk. Because of these high yields, processors appreciate the value of buffalo milk.".[8]The steps required to produce buffalo mozzarella are the following:[21][22]
- Milk storage (raw buffalo milk stored in big steel containers).
- Milk heating (thermic treatment to the liquid, then poured into a cream separator).
- Curdling (by induction of natural whey).
- Curd maturation (the curd lies in tubs in order to reduce the acidification processes and reach a pH value of about 4.95).
- Spinning (hot water is poured out on the curd in order to soften it, obtaining pasta filata).
- Shaping (with special rotating shaper machines).
- Cooling (by immersion in cold water).
- Pickling (by immersion in pickling tubs containing the original whey).
- Packaging (in special films cut as bags or in small basins and plastic).
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