Cheese Making Class at Poplar Grove Cheesery on the Naramata Bench

Thankyou Travelin' Pat for sharing the fun day you and Daiya had at Poplar Grove Cheesery.

 

What does one normally do on a gorgeous Easter Weekend?  Lets see…go bike riding? Walking? Paint adorable creative eggs?  OR    go to a cheese making class.  Cheese Please!!!

My Daughter in Law Daiya and I had registered for the class ages ago and finally the big cheese day arrived.  We donned on our gumboots and our aprons and our ever so fashionable hairnets and boldly went where neither of us had been before.

Poplar Grove Cheese Shop

The first thing we learned is that cleanliness is paramount.  Lots of hand washing and rinsing of utensils. Secondly we learned that with a few simple ingredients (milk, citric acid and rennet) we could be off to the races.

Daiya Anderson - The start



Warming up milk and acids



Cheese forming into a ball



The down and dirty is that you pour milk into a pot, heat it up add your acid and rennet and Bobs your uncle.  Ok maybe it is a bit more of a deal than that but essentially it is a simple process.  At the end of the day we had three delicious cheeses, ricotta, mozzarella and feta. Plus we were very proud of ourselves. I am already thinking tomato and mozzarella salad for dinner tonight.

Hanging cheese to let whey drip

 

Finished product

Feta

 

Maybe the next time you would like to do something fun and worthwhile, grab a friend and take a stab at making cheese.

Louise Pederson (the big cheese around the place) is the instructor extraordinaire.  She is an excellent and patient teacher; and the class is informative and fun.  Louise plans on starting up more cheese making classes in the Fall.  For more information visit the Poplar Grove Cheese website, or call
(250) 492-4575.  A big bonus is that there is a scrumptious lunch (with wine) provided. Cheers....

 

Wine with lunch

 

Penticton Peach City Triathlon - A Humorous Twist on the Race

I WENT FOR A RIDE AND A RACE BROKE OUT

Sunday morning I thought I would go for a bike ride on the KVR to the little tunnel. I forgot my water so instead of going all the way I headed down to the Naramata Road As I swooped down the hill I was reveling in the still, quiet summer morning and was feeling relaxed and calm. Making the turn onto the main road I was immediately engulfed in a swarm of riders, all rocketing along with their fancy bikes and sleek bodies looking cool in bright colored spandex. I was in a 5-year-old grey t-shirt, an old ripped pair of bike shorts and riding my 11-year-old ultra heavy mountain bike. Obviously I didn’t fit. Turns out, I was riding along with the competitors in the Penticton Peach City Triathlon, an annual bike, swim and marathon race.

 

As I rode along with my pedal clanking rhythmically, all of a sudden I would hear what I thought was a car and out of the blue a rider would rocket by and quickly fade out of sight.  It was especially embarrassing going up hill.   I was in the easiest gear with my feet going furiously; not gaining much ground unfortunately and  I was being passed (again and again) and the riders would effortlessly glide on by leaving me in the dust.

Spectators dotted along the road would applaud and shout out encouragement as we all went by.. .  even me..  Luckily my street came up and I was happily exited and glad I didn’t have to run a half marathon after all that bike riding.  Good grief!

The best thing though is that I saw Naramata local Megan Solley riding along.  She actually looked happy and was smiling away as she cruised on by.  Who said marathons aren’t fun?  Her times were:  Swim 42:28,  Bike 1:44:44 and Run 1:05:22  Congrats Megan!

 



Megan Solley



 

Thanks again to Travelin' Pat for sharing this unique experience with us.