It’s quite wonderful to milk our own sheep and make fresh milk cheese—in our animal ecosystem of sheep, chickens, cats. Our animal ecosystem (Sheep and kitty) Far right: Barred owl
Gorgeous cheese, freshest milk, “native” cultures
Gorgeous cheese—it’s cheesemaking time again! Kilele (mom of triplets, Francis, Leo, Clare) and Sufu (mom of singleton, Big Agnes) are producing beautiful milk—high in fat and protein. The milk is ripened with cultures, and some whey saved from the previous batch of cheese. Coagulant added, later cut into curds, and eventually whey separated to reheat…
Beautiful vegetables
Taking a little time from research and writing, beautiful vegetables are a must-have. if we all can agree on one thing, it’s eat more veggies! Here, cabbage and beets…other root veggies. Gentle roast, not scorch! True also for the pizza, dough from La Fiamma, mushrooms grown in our house. For more, see my FoodWISE (https://gigiberardi.com/foodwise-3/#book).
“Interesting” Dancers: commentary on a 2019 PNB Midsummer Night’s Dream (having just reviewed the 2023 rendition)
Common wisdom/practice among arts critics is to avoid the adjective “interesting” – probably because it is so vague and ambiguous. Meaning everything, it means nothing. Maybe. I think if we take it to mean “singularly worth watching,” “a different sort of dancer worth watching,” or “a dancer you have to watch”…meaning, your attention is immediately…
Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Seattle
Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with delightful music from Felix Mendelssohn, is a crowd pleaser for sure. The choreographer himself must have had fond memories of when he performed, as PNB artistic director notes in his April 12, 2011 post in “Director’s Notebook,” as an eight-year-old bug in a St. Petersburg production. With staging by…
The best sautéed mushrooms and leek soup
Different vegetable dishes, but oh, so good—sautéed mushrooms and my friend’s Leek Soup. There’s umami flavors and strong garlic in each, for sure. The mushrooms were quite special—ordered from Cascadian Mushrooms (highly recommend this) and blooming in our house…then cooked in butter. The Leek soup was out of this world—gently, not overcooked, garlic and salt….
“Real Brie” and “Real Manchego” cheeses
Brie and Manchego—I’ve started to make soft, mold-ripened cheeses, and I must say they are delicious. You can eat them as soon as the mold has developed, a week after setting the curds, even better, two weeks later. And a month later? Delish! But is this REAL BRIE—no, it’s not going to taste like the…
PNB presents “Boundless”
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Boundless” program featured choreographers Alejandro Cerrudo, Jessica Lang, and Penny Saunders. This review is of a film made opening night, March 17, 2023. In Penny Saunders’ Wonderland, Michael Wall supplies original music and adapts others. Divided into five sections, we hear strains of Jean-Philippe Goude, Hugues Le Bars, Erik Satie, Camille Saint-Saëns,…
Spring lambs…regenerative farming from cheese to wool
It’s lambing season again, part of the journey of regenerative farming, from cheese to wool. And, a whole lotta love all the way around in helping it to happen. The intrepid Miel is in retirement this year, so we have Sufu, and her lamb #289 (name to be determined), born March 13 of this year,…
My favorite restaurant food (ever): Spinach Greens, Italian Greens!
Especially when I’m travelling, including staying in Italy, my favorite food to order is spinach greens (even if they’ve been frozen)—with a little olive oil, salt, and cheese (my preference: my own parmesan)…and maybe some garlic, it’s a completely satisfying meal. Recipe for “Italian greens” is on p. 184 FoodWISE!