Cheese, Cake and Sunshine

I spent last weekend catching up with an old friend.  It must be nearly 13 years since we had a catch up without small children in tow so we indulged ourselves wandering the streets, shops and stalls of St Nicholas Market and Clifton Village in Bristol; nattering, whilst sampling amazingly fresh and tasty food from street stalls and independent delis - a real treat.

In one of the delis I spotted a stack of The Big Cheese Making kits. Regular readers of the blog may recall that I was given one of these for making mozzarella and ricotta last year, and had showed off my attempt at mini mozzarella balls when catering for friends. I was delighted to see that kits also exist for making halloumi as well as a Scottish cheese I've never heard of, so they will definitely be appearing on my birthday wish list. Anyway, spotting them has inspired me to make another batch of mozzarella.

The first step is to boil water in which to dissolve the rennet and citric acid but, once boiled, the water then has to be cooled to room temperature. So, while waiting for  the water to reach the right temperature I thought I'd have a browse through my collection of cake recipes to find something suitable to make for next weekend's craft club. I ended up being so torn between two options that I decided to make one now and the other next weekend. Humn...looks like this weekend is likely to be as food-focused as last.

Anyway, with the polenta, almond and orange loaf cake in the oven, I finally set about making the mozzarella, getting hungrier and hungrier as I went. Fortunately, the cheese takes less than an hour to make and can be eaten immediately so, in next to no time I was tucking into a very fresh and tasty lunch.

From this...

...to this

And finally this...

As I wait for the cake to cool, I am drawn to venture into the garden. As I've been cooking I've had the back door open - so wonderful is the weather. Mind you, this means only one thing - I really should sow some seeds.

When picking up the milk for the mozzarella, I slipped some seed packets into the basket so why not get them sown immediately? I've gone for tomatoes, an annual essential, but also spotted some mini patio sweet peppers which I thought I'd give a try, alongside some cut-and-come-again salad leaves. I normally refuse to grow things that I know the slugs and snails will get to eat well before I do, but last year I recall seeing someone growing salad leaves in small round pots on a table in their garden so I'll give that a go. I'm hoping that traipsing across paving stones before climbing vertically and then upside down to negotiate the table will be too much for city slugs and they will opt for, pardon the pun, lower hanging fruit!

Perhaps by then I'll be able to ice the cake and maybe even try a bit, although right now I'm too full from lunch!

P.S.  the icing on the cake