It ended up sort of a weird process; most quark recipes are acid-set (you ferment the milk until the curd breaks) but I was attempting a lazier and shortcuttier version that introduces a bit of rennet partway through the culturing process. The rennet had no effect that I could see, though… so I left it longer and it ended up getting two full days of fermentation. That’s still well within the range I saw in various recipes, but by then I was getting impatient again and so I put the whole kit in an oven set to “warm” and voila, two hours later the curd broke.
I left it to drain through cheesecloth overnight and then attacked the slightly-hardened curd with a hand blender.
The result was a texture somewhere between cottage cheese and cream cheese, although it doesn’t taste like either IMO. I had some for lunch yesterday with a fruit cup and some raw broccoli and it was pretty awesome. I mixed about 3oz. with a teaspoon of honey for dessert last night and that was pretty awesome as well.
I don’t know the nutritional info since I made this myself, but off-the-shelf skim milk quark has something like 22 cal/oz, with about 4g protein and 1.5g carbs. I used 2% milk so my quark will have some fat in it.
I haven’t tried making sahnequark (basically quark smoothed with cream for a yogurt-like consistency; it’s crazy delicious to make fruit salad with this) or kräuterquark (herbed quark smoothed with a small amount of liquid, whey or milk or sour cream or creme fraiche, and used as a spread) but I intend to do both. Yum!
(I’m NOT going to make quarkkuchen, german cheesecake, because I am trying to LOSE weight, not gain it).
Why can’t a fella buy some non-stupidified kitchen tools, huh?
I’m trying to make some quark and I need a nice sterile place to put 5 quarts of fermenting milk. I have a few 5-quart bowls, actually, but I’m going to use 5 quarts of liquid and it needs some sloshing room, so I really need a 6 or 7-quart vessel.
I can’t use my 6-quart pot because it is still recovering from something incredibly dangerous and very stupid that I did to it the other day (that would be another story).
This would be a good time to get an actual stockpot, thinks me. Easy peasy.
You’d think!
Sears had bupkis (lovely sale on flat, cast-iron prybars, though).
Kohls had any number of N-piece kits (8 < N < 15) for between $99 and $300, plus a standalone Paula Deen-branded stockpot for something like $175.
Gordman’s had a $13 stockpot that wasn’t worth $0.13; the inner surface was flaking off and seemed to involve paint, or some other coating so cheap and nasty as to seem paint-like.
Wal-mart had a perfectly serviceable set of options. So I ended up spending my money at the Wal-mart.
This is all to my chagrin since I am, theoretically, opposed to Wal-mart. I mean, yeah, shady employment practices, union-busting, destroying local businesses, homogenization of local culture, etc., but I really just can’t stand how slowly their checkout lines move.
Anyway, my milk products are happily fermenting now. But I am still wishing for the opportunity to buy kitchen junkses without grinding my teeth to nubs in the process. Alton Brown keeps telling me to shop at restaurant supply stores, but I can’t find any such thing around here. I guess that’s why they invented the webternets.
Nothing new really, these are available in other formats elsewhere on the site, but I felt like adding these old Daphne videos to youtube. Frankly, it makes it easier for me to find them when I want them.
Meantime, here’s some memory lane:
If those aren’t literally her first steps, they are close to it. I love how she’s telling herself “good job” there. Daphne is all about the self-affirmation.
Logically, there must be some point at which the actions of the Bush administration stop shocking me. A few people have spilled ink about outrage fatigue; the scandalous revelations of misconduct and terrible decisions over the last 8 years were so widespread and relentless that even the most dedicated of Bush haters had a hard time keeping up with it all. Believe me, I tried.
But no, they were worse than my most ungenerous assumptions.
One of the takeaways of the torture memos is that we tortured some prisoners hundreds of times. There are not a lot of reasons to do that. Even the assholes who insist that torture produces useful intelligence (and it doesn’t) have to argue that the purpose of the torture is to get fast cooperation and data about imminent threats; that simply doesn’t apply if you’re torturing someone 6 times a day for more than a month.
Anyone paying a modicum of attention knew that Bush and the PNAC krewe who adopted him in the late 90s wanted to invade Iraq well before 9-11. They didn’t keep it a secret or anything. We knew that they were using 9-11 as a pretext to invade a country that had nothing to do with 9-11.
But at my very most cynical I didn’t think they would simply torture POWs to obtain false confessions to “prove” that nonexistent link.
As Paul Krugman points out, the word for this is “evil”. This is unquestionably the kind of shit that we executed people for doing in WWII.
Here’s what I wrote to my state senator (with variations to my state rep, speaker of the house, governor, etc):
Hi Senator Dvorsky,
I’m writing to tell you how pleased I am at today’s Supreme Court ruling affirming the rights of Iowans to marry regardless of their sexual orientation. I am happy for my gay and lesbian friends and neighbors, and proud that Iowa continues its long tradition of bravery and leadership on civil rights issues.
Please work with your Senate colleagues to ensure that this civil rights gain is not overturned. I know that opponents of this important decision are once again pushing a state constitutional amendment banning state recognition of marriages between same-sex partners. As was the case with the recent Proposition 8 fight in California, the legislative battle is likely to attract attention and money from organizations that would seek to restrict the rights of Iowans. Such organizations have proven their willingness to abuse civil law to impose their religious beliefs on others, against their will.
Unlike California, Iowa has had the good sense to set a relatively high barrier to constitutional amendment. This policy recognizes that constitutional rights should not be subject to political whim. The personal rights defined in the Iowa Constitution include such bedrock principles as the right to life, property rights, freedom of speech and press, religious liberty, and equal protection under the law. I am glad to live in a state where the whim of 51% of the populace may not deprive the other 49% of these rights.
High barriers notwithstanding, I hope and expect that you will oppose any attempt to pass a Proposition 8-style amendment through the state legislature. I do not want to see such a measure pass even one step in the process toward constitutional amendment.
Today the Supreme Court has considered a difficult and divisive question and has come down squarely on the side of justice and liberty. Please know that this constituent appreciates that and hopes that you will help to protect it.
I don’t know what is up with the recent proliferation of Half-Life tribute films, but I knows I likes it!
This most recent entry is the subject of some debate, with some saying it is probably a student demoreel and others saying it probably cost way too much money and time for that. I must say the locations and effects work do seem very professional.
This earlier effort is from a different source AFAIK, and remarkable for the blend of in-game video and real-life stuff. It’s not seamless or anything but it’s pretty good!
Boy do I hope episode 3 comes out soon. I am kind of done with l4d.
