Home Creamery Event: Making Cheese & Drinking Wine

I walked into Pegasus book store on Solano Avenue, Berkeley, the other day, and lo and behold, guess what caught my dairy obsessed eye? Although I entered the store looking for Burgundian focused cookbooks, I left carrying The Home Creamery, by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. Maybe it was the buttery-hued, soft, crumbly cheese and old-fashioned glass milk bottle filled with what I feel in my heart was a luscious batch of whole milk, topped with a thin layer of cream that were featured on the cover that made the final sale. Or, maybe it was because I knew that once I bought this book, I would have the power to eat all the cheeses and artisan butter I wanted without getting funny looks from the lady ringing up my dairy purchases at the grocery store. Either, way, I am ready to begin filling my refrigerator with fresh, soft cheeses, made, and soon to be eaten by me.

And I would like to invite you to join me.

But you have to make your own.

I would like to kick off a grand blogging event called Making Cheese and Drinking Wine (again, feel free to suggest a better name!), set to post on the last Friday of every month, starting October. The event would be open to the public. Every month, I'd pick a recipe for a cheese or dairy good from The Home Creamery book pictured above, and all participants (that's you!!!) would make the recipe. After making the recipe (here's the Vin de la Table hook), participants would pair it with a wine of their choice. There are no limitations. Say we're making mozzarella, for example. Jane Doe could focus entirely on pairing the fresh cheese she just made with her favorite wine, or she could make a fried mozzarella sandwich, then tell us about the wine sauce she dipped her creation in (Jane's a naughty girl).

The event would be posted on the last Friday of every month, on Vin de la Table. This means that sometime before the third Friday of every month (dates to come), active event participants would send me their info. Bloggers would shoot me an email with the link to their blog post featuring the dairy pairing, and non-bloggers could email me with a photo (if they wish) of their final concoctions and a short, sweet description declaring the success or failure of their homemade creamery attempt, along with their pairing, like what would be featured on the blog posts.

Financially, what would be required of people interested in this event would be buying the The Home Creamery, by Kathy Farfell-Kingsley. I bought mine for $16.95. Other equipment needed would be: a large stainless steel or enamel pot (both non-reactive materials), cheesecloth, thermometer, a steel ladle or skimmer, and a curd knife or cake spatula. On occasion, we'd need to acquire liquid rennet or citric acid from cheesemaking companies, the names of which are revealed in the book. To ensure that all had time to acquire the equipment, I'd reveal the monthly recipe a month before the post was due.

So, are you with me? I'd love to hear if this is something that would interest Vin de la Table readers. Would you wine and food lovers like to be involved? Please leave me a little note or two in the comment section at the end of the post to let me know if you'd be interested in playing this cheese and wine game. By the way, most cheeses and dairy goods in the book take less time to make than a really good lasagna.

What do you say?.....