I enjoyed Stonehenge a lot more than I thought I would. It was cold, bitterly bitterly cold, but brilliant. As far as I can gather from the Audio Guide (which, btw, would be better without the cheesy sound effects + sound tracks, thanks) is that they don’t know how the stones were put together in that formation, or why (though they suspect it had something to do with burial rituals).

They do know that there were two types of stone used, one called Bluestone, which they suspect came from a quarry approximately 250km away. That’s kind of phenomenal considering that they think that Stonehenge was created approximately 2500 BC, and the stones weigh approximately 4 tonnes. 4 TONNES! They suspect they were floated (as much as 4 tonne rocks can float) down a river. The other type of stone is what I want to call the grey stones, but I don’t think that’s right (Sarsen stones??). These ones were collected much closer, maybe 40km away. Local, in comparison.

I thought it was absolutely phenomenal. Perhaps a lot of the appeal in finally getting here was that it was on The List. And it was on The List because its instantly recognizable and seemed so very far removed from home. Either way, I was quite enthusiastic about the whole trip out there. I was excited to cross something off The List, excited to be doing something I said I would, and absolutely stoked to see something as old and as a brilliant as Stonehenge.

It was big, and impressive, and gorgeous. Vatican City was amazing. Sadly, I didn’t see the Sistine Chapel (I’d like to go back at some point to see it) but we did visit St. Peter’s Basilica, and yes, we saw Pietà, by Michelangelo. Fairly awe inspiring.

St Peters Square

St. Peter’s Basilica. No togs, but pj’s okay.

Number 59 – Done!

Where I was staying in Sommerset has this lovely, open, comfortable kitchen. The kind of kitchen that I always end up wanting to bake in. It’s gorgeous. So, on one the down days before Christmas I took over the kitchen, drank champagne and made Pierogi dumplings from scratch.

Goodness, I wasn’t expecting it to take so long, or be so involved. I always wasn’t expecting it to taste as brilliant as they were, or to have made the best mash I’ve ever made in my life (literally. I couldn’t stop eating it!)

The great thing about when I did this, is that there were enough people around to pick up the camera
and document the process so I didn’t have to. It was alot of fun to have a cheering squad.

So, I stole this recipe shamelessly from OH Mommy over at Classy Chaos with the knowledge that if she can make this with her toddler, I can make this without help. Hopefully.

Ingredients
Oil for frying.
6 to 8 Yukon Gold potatoes.
6 to 8 ounces of grated cheddar cheese.
Flour.
3 eggs.
3 tablespoons of cream cheese.
3 teaspoons of milk.
2 tablespoon of butter.
Salt to taste.
(There was also onions, I think, but I don’t know why anyone would ever invite onions to the party).

How to make Pierogi Goodness

1. Boil potatoes, cut in quarters, in salt water.

2. Prepare the pierogi dough. This is a little bit pedantic, but it worked, so: Add one egg, one tablespoon cream cheese, one teaspoon milk and 1/2 cup flour. Once it’s all mixed up good, add another 1/2 cup flour, one tablespoon cream cheese + one teaspoon milk. When the dough is well blended, add one egg, one tablespoon cream cheese and another 1/2 cup flour; mix well. Finally, add the remaining egg, one teaspoon milk and 1/2 cup flour. If dough is too dry, add a little more milk; if too wet, add more flour.

3. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin & separate into cute little circles with a glass. Make sure that each side is covered in flour so it doesn’t stick. This makes things ALOT easier.

4. With your now boiled potatoes, add butter + cheese and mash like you’ve never mashed before. Try not to eat too much of it. Boil more water.

5. Scoop up a little bit of the mash, and place in the middle of your dough circles.

6. Fold the dough over the potato, and mash the ends down with a fork. Should like any dumpling you’ve ever seen the world over.

7. Using your previously boiled water, add your pierogi. When they start floating (about 2-3 minutes) you can fish them out.

8. Dry the pierogi with a paper towel, and then fry them.

And tada! When done, you should have tasty Pierogi’s. Mine didn’t last very long, which was nice. They were quite tasty, and if it wasn’t so much work I’d do it more often.

Still, yay! Number 26, done!

I’ve mentioned it before but there is this scarf. It’s a red scarf, and this scarf? I started it during the 2004/2005 Northern Hemisphere snow season. It’s come with me all across America, and all over New Zealand. It came with me to Canada, and Europe and while I was in Italy? In a little Tuscan Villa?

I finished it. Five years in the making, and it’s finally done.

It has tassels, and is brilliantly warm and is delightfully red and it’s FINISHED!! I’m absolutely stoked. So, it’s a little bit wobbly, and some of the stitches are loose, and the width of parts of it is a little variable, but I think it’s incredibly rustic. And all those little details give it character.

I’m immensely pleased that it’s finished. Perhaps I’ll make another 🙂

Number 49? Done!

There was going to be a video. I carefully documented everything via video. But let’s be honest, with all the grand adventurous things that are going at the moment, making a video about cheese is low on the priority list.

But one exciting Saturday months and months ago (October, I think?), The Fourth Quarter, Lina and I made cheese. Actual cheese. From Milk. MILK!

It was pretty easy, and has alot of sitting around and wait for milk to be hot moments where we all hung out and just gossiped. A pretty amazing day, with some pretty amazing people.

It was actually pretty amazing. I can’t remember the exact recipe, but it goes something like:

* Take 10L of non-homogenised milk and put it in a water bath and heat milk.
* Add culture and rennet (we used vegetarian rennet, yay!)
* Leave it alone for 40 minutes to become cheese. Yeah!
* Cut the wobbly elastic-y stuff on top into 1cm cubes. This was tricky, and my cutting skill was not awesome.
* Let it sit some more
* Scoop it out into cheese cloth, and put into a press. (Handy fact: 10 Litres of water is apparently the same as 10kgs!)
* Add vinegar to the whey, and as it becomes cheese and floats the top, scoop it up and put it in a cheese cloth.
* When you’ve got it all, let the cheese drain (this is the ricotta!)
* Once the pressed cheese is pressed, cut into squares.
* Salt one half (yeah, this is the feta!)
* Heat the whey, and put the other half in. When it’s done and is floating to the surface, take it out.
* Sprinkle with salt + mint on one side, and then fold it in a half. (This is the Haloumi, woo!)

The final product: Feta, Ricotta, and Haloumi.

We pretty much fried up the Haloumi and ate it straight away. The Ricotta went soon after. We had enough feta to last us for a while, so we left the feta for a day. Resalted it, and then put it in jars with sun-dried tomatoes + rosemary to eat later. Looked like this. And let me tell you, it was SO GOOD.

And you know what? Cheese is absolutely tastier when you’ve made it.

Hurrah! Number 75 on The List, done!