A hunting we will go….

A hunting we will go….

Shhhhhhh. Be very, very, quiet. We're hunting HOUSES!

Here we go again. We're flying out of San Francisco tonight and heading back to Portland for a whirlwind tour of Yamhill County. Tomorrow we'll be walking around five different places, trying them on for size. Will one of them feel right? Will it meet our needs? Who knows? We've got some pretty specific requirements and I'm very picky. Let me restate my needs.

The new house has to be comfortable. Good light and a good layout are key. We're leaving a house that we've really made into someplace special. I love my kitchen and hate to leave it. I love our neighborhood and hate to leave it. I love being so close to the coast and the open spaces of the Bay Area. Our new house has some pretty big shoes to fill. I'm sure we'll find some new places in which to fall in love, just like we did here.

I thrive when I have a good view to inspire me. Things just flow out of my hands and brain easier when I have a pretty vista upon which to feast my eyes. Mountains, fields and trees make nice views. Good cheese comes from happy cheesemakers. This happy cheesemaker likes to have a good view.

There's got to be good, sweet, clean water and lots of it. I'm making cheese and good source of water is essential. A strong well or spring goes a long way towards making tasty cheese. Oregon has no shortage of water. It rains a lot there, remember? I trick is finding GOOD water. Tasty water. Water that doesn't smell or leave tons of rust stains on everything including curds.

We need a site to build our cheesemaking facility. There's got to be space for a cheeseroom and aging facilities. I can retrofit a barn or milking parlor, but I'll need good drainage. It might be easier to start from scratch and get one of those metal ag buildings. They aren't the prettiest things, but they're modular and allow for expansion. I'm hoping the business will thrive, blossom, and we'll need room to grow. That's my plan.

We'll need room for a big septic system and draining field. I don't plan on sending my whey down the drain, but I'll need someplace to put that grey water. The driveway and road to the property needs to be able to handle a milk truck. Milk is heavy. The road needs to be able to take the weight. Can't live anyplace with a narrow gravel road or steep slope.

A fenced property makes a good property. I don't want my critter to wander away or be preyed upon easily. I don't want too many animals but I want the option of having a place to put a goat or three. Fencing is a must when you have goats, dogs or chickens.

I want a habitat pond. The water that heats and cools the pasteurizer can be reclaimed and fed into ponds to make fish, frogs and birds very happy. Goat Lady Dairy has a beautiful habitat pond along side of the barn. It is full of thriving wildlife. There is a pipe from the pasteurizer, under the floor of the barn and into the pond. Very smart. The pond can even be used as supplemental irrigation for the garden during times of drought (like right now.) The pond sits above the garden so you can easily run hoses from it and water the garden via gravity.

We're hoping to find something this weekend. Our flight is at 7pm tonight. Wish us luck!

Counter Spin

I've been putting in more hours at Cowgirl. It is another busy summer, full of visitors who want to see the sites and eat some fine cheese. The Ferry Building where Cowgirl is located has become quite the destination for folks visiting the city. It is in a prime location at the foot of Market Street, projecting into San Francisco Bay. Most of the building is supported by pylons, so the building is part of a large pier with water underneath it. Ferries still dock behind the building, taking people to Vallejo, Alameda, Oakland, Sausalito, as well as Larkspur.

We see plenty of ferry commuters as well as ferry employees, grabbing some cheese before they set sail across the bay. The rush usually begins around 4:30. Every day a few patrons will come up to the counter looking anxious. They will fidget and step from foot to foot waiting impatiently for their turn. When their number is called (Cowgirl has a take-a-number system,) patrons will ask us to please hurry because they only have five minutes before departure. We try to be quick, but it can be a challenge when the patron wants a bunch of cheese and doesn't know what they want. Fridays are full of commuters picking up cheese for parties on the ferries. The commuters become friends with others on the boats so they'll pick up some beer, wine, cheese and bread, take it on board the boats and have a party while dashing across the waves to Marin County. It is a great way to commute. I used to do it. But I never got to cozy with my fellow commuters. I usually took a nap.

I was working behind the counter last Thursday when Peggy Smith, one of the owners came dashing in. She was all smiles and happy to see me. "I didn't know you're back! I thought you were off somewhere making cheese," she declared.

"I am and I was," I replied. "Now I’m making an occasional guest appearance behind the counter." She was in the shop in order to do a special tasting with an esteemed visitor who was touring the Ferry Building. The new Secretary of the United Nations stopped by to try our cheese. He was accompanied by throngs of photographers, city officials and secret service security officials. It was quite exciting. Strobe lights from the newscameras made me feel like I was center stage at a movie premier. All business stopped while Ban Ki-Moon toured the place. He was very polite, trying our cheese and asking questions. Peggy explained a bit about what we do, where we make cheese and what we sell. The unsuspecting family that I was waiting on were blown away when I told them who was standing next to them. And in five minutes he was gone. Off to some other meeting, I suppose. It was almost as good as when Martha Stewart stopped by the shop.

Nuts

Jim and I went to last night and today's baseball games. The Giants versus the Florida Marlins. Barry Bonds is on the verge of tying Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs. Last night was exciting and full of good hitting. Today's game was not so good. And we're still waiting for Barry to hit one or two balls for the record books. Games in San Francisco are all about contrasts. I freeze during foggy night games like last night, or roast in the sun like I did this afternoon.

Baseball games are not just about the game that's unfolding on the field. It is about watching the crowd, too. Everyone cheers and chants when Barry Bonds comes to bat, they boo-ed when ex-Giants pitcher Armando Benitez took to the mound, they got all warm and fuzzy when the team from 1987 was honored before today's game.

Baseball games are also about eating stuff you'd never put in your mouth at home. Cotton candy? Cracker Jacks? Peanuts in the shell? Grilled sausages smothered in grilled onions, sauerkraut, and mustard? Garlic fries? Is there ever a good time to eat any of these things? Only at the ballpark. We always intend to bring lunch or dinner with us. Save our cash for the extremely expensive souvenirs. Somehow, only peanuts and apples ever wind up in our backpacks. Last night we devoured peanuts during the first half of the game. Dry, empty shells littered the concrete beneath our seats. It is the only time I feel no remorse for littering. I miss the days at Candlestick watching the hot dog wrappers and plastic bags whip around in the wind and fog, tumbling across the outfield. Umpires would pick up the trash in between innings. The new stadium doesn't have the same wind currents so the trash tends to stay in the stands.

Today we snacked on pistachio nuts. We finished the peanuts last night. I usually buy nuts at Trader Joe's and thought pistachios would be a nice change of pace. Jim and I opened the bag during the first inning. We cracked handfuls of nuts while watching Barry hit foul balls. The shells started to pile up under our feet. Unlike peanut shells, the pistachio shells don't crunch nicely underfoot. They sit there like small, hard pebbles. Tasty, but the shells are a pain. Then you get the unsplit nut that won't come out of the shell. Completely useless. On to the ground with it.

I can recall the first time I ever had pistachio nuts. It was the mid-70's and I was a little kid. My mom had bought a bag of them at Torn Ranch, a store in downtown San Rafael. Torn Ranch specialized in dried fruit and nuts and sweets. Things you might find at Cost Plus today. They also had a crepe café and juice bar. The shop was next door to my dad's clothing store. I remember my mother giving me a pistachio nut. I loved it from the first bite. Mom explained that these nuts were very expensive because they only grow them in the Middle East. These nuts were from Iran. They came in cool colors like red and green or natural. I ate them only on special occasions because my parents didn't buy them often. They were too much money.

Not too long after that experience, I had my first political food revelation. Pistachios were even harder to get and even more expensive. The Iranian hostage crisis and ensuing embargo of Iranian goods cut off the supply of pistachio nuts! This is bad on all fronts. Coincidentally, U.S. production of pistachios began in the late 1970's. California has the perfect climate for pistachio trees. They like the same type of climate as almonds and olives.

We have lots of pistachio nuts grown here in California today. They also grow them in Turkey and throughout the Mediterranean. Recently I have even found nuts from Iran. My local produce market Parkside Market has it all. They have amazing produce, a feta bar with five types of feta, an olive bar with eight kinds of olives, Turkish tea, and pistachio nuts in many flavors from all corners of the earth for only $5.00 a pound.

Walking away

Real Estate update:

The deal is off. We must continue to search for our Oregon home.

Why is it off? It all came down to the inspection. The house is in a great location, but it needs some serious work. We flew up last Monday for the inspection and met Larry, the home inspector and Paul our real estate agent at the house outside of Carlton. We went inside and Larry went to work. Jim and I wandered from room to room, taking pictures and discussing what we might do to make improvements. Larry spent three hours examining the place from top to bottom. He had his laptop with him so he could examine a room and then write his report. He took pictures and poked and prodded what seems like every square inch of the house.

When he was finished, we all converged in the kitchen for a full debriefing. Larry's opinion: for a 100 year old house, the place is in o.k. shape. HOWEVER, it needs some work. The roof is probably 25 years old and needs to be replaced. The plumbing is heavily corroded and restricting the flow of water through the pipes, so there is very little water pressure. The solution: replace the galvanized steel pipes with copper plumbing.

Oh, and the foundation is crumbling on one side of the house.

The list continued on from there, none of it seemed to be minor. I don't want this house anymore. I don't want this property anymore. I don't want to have to do major work on a house before I move in. This place was not priced as a "fixer."

The well inspection was also rather disappointing. For some reason, a well that was thought to be pumping an admirable 25 gallons per minute of water, is only pumping 4 gallons per minute.

Enough. I don't want to restore this place. I want to move in and build my cheese operation. Time to cut our losses and keep looking.

The hunt continues. We'll be back in Oregon on Aug. 10th and will look at several more properties. I'm eager to find a place that's just right.

In the Works

(The Cowgirls - Rachel, now working at the warehouse in Petaluma, Sue & Peggy--photo taken last August)

I do not like to be idle. To stay out of trouble I've been putting some time in at Cowgirl Creamery. It is always fun to step behind the counter again and sell a wide variety of fine cheese. I'm in my element. I get to talk about all kinds of cheese for hours! There are lots of new faces behind the counter, so I get to entertain them with many stories about my cheesemaking adventures. It is easy to sell something that you're passionate about. The customers seem to pick up on my enthusiasm and buy lots of cheese. I enjoy giving them fascinating tidbits about the cheese that they're tasting. For example, Everona Dairy's Piedmont, a sheep's milk cheese from Virginia is made by a medical doctor, Dr. Pat Elliot. I believe she's a cardiac surgeon. One ounce of a rich triple-cream like Mt. Tam has LESS calories than one ounce of parmigiano reggiano. Why? Because there is a lot more moisture (water) in a soft cheese like Mt. Tam, than a hard cheese like a parmigiano. Essentially, the harder the cheese, the more concentrated it is and the less water is in it. And goat's milk has less fat, naturally in it than cow or sheep's milk. I'm not saying that cheese is a low-fat or low calorie food. I just know what's going to make me fatter, faster.

I love talking to customers. Everyone is always happy when they enter the cheese shop. I can make them happier by offering a taste of anything they see. People become overwhelmed by the selection, so I enjoy helping them explore the possibilities. I just feed them until they find something they like. I engage them by asking questions like: "Do you like your cheese hard, soft or somewhere in between? Do you like it mild or bold? Creamy or pungent?" I try to zero in on something that they might enjoy. I can usually find something that they like and that they might not have tried before.

One customer particularly stands out from my stint behind the counter last week. A family was buying a bunch of cheese to pair with wines. They looked familiar. They've been in the shop before and were familiar with many of the cheeses Cowgirl sells. We were discussing what would pair well with a white wine (savignon blanc?) As we discussed our options, I was impressed with her cheese knowledge. She also really knew her wine. Turns out she and her husband publish a website called Fork & Bottle. I've looked at it before. They really enjoy their subjects, food & wine. They seem to have an emphasis on local foods from the Bay Area (they're in Santa Rosa) but their site is quite extensive and is a clearinghouse of food-centric information. I am intrigued by their cheese and wine parings that they're working on at the moment. I hope I was able to give Joanne some good cheese for her research!


(left: Trethowan's Gorwydd Caerphilly cheese)

I also like to see the regular customers who know what they like and look forward to getting their favorites. I'll try to point out certain cheeses that are truly stellar at the moment. For instance, last week I cut open a wheel of Gorwydd caerphilly, a Welsh cheese. It knocked my socks off. It was perfectly ripe and had a bright flavor that dances between lemons, asparagus, and thyme. Glorious. Sometimes it can be too ripe and sad. This one was just right. When someone asked me what was my favorite cheese I'd show them the caerphilly. My favorite cheese is whatever is at its peak on that particular day.

I've been missing my work at the dairy so I went out and bought a gallon of goat's milk at Trader Joe's. I made a batch of fresh chevre for our house and to share with Jim's uncle in McMinnville, OR. After it set up and drained for a day, I took some of the curd and made roasted red bell pepper chevre as well as fig and honey chevre. I kept a small amount and just salted it so I could have plain chevre for breakfast.

(right: freshly drained chevre ready to be salted and eaten.)

Cooking tip: I got a filet of salmon for dinner the other night. I cooked it on the stovetop so it got a nice, crisp skin and moist center. I then took a dallop of my roasted red bell pepper chevre and let it melt over the top of the hot salmon fillet as you would with herb butter. The results were a big hit at the dinner table. It really punched up the flavor of the fresh salmon and made everything sing. I've got to try that again. Working at Goat Lady Dairy made me realize how fun it can be to play with flavored fresh goat cheese.

Real Estate update: We found a great little farm between Carlton and McMinnville in Oregon. 13 acres with an Arts & Crafts bungalow, a barn, a few trees, and bare earth. We put an offer in it, haggled a bit with the seller, and now we're in escrow! My God! We're really doing this! Oh SH*T! We've got a lot of work to do, but we're going to make some our own cheese one of these days and were going to do it on Highway 47 in Oregon.

Greener Pastures

In search of Greener Pastures, or, OR=Oregon.

When I returned from North Carolina I barely had time to unpack before Jim and I were on an Alaska Airlines flight to Portland. I was home on a Tuesday night and we were on a plane on Friday afternoon. Jim is motivated too!

We arrived in Portland, picked up our rental car and headed for downtown. We had a room at the Hilton Executive Towers courtesy of Priceline. While we were on the Morrison Bridge crossing Willamette River, we noticed a bunch of people lined up on both sides of the span. There was a midway/carnival set up along the river, but these folks were obviously waiting for something to happen. It was about 10:00pm. Hmmm. Jim and I tossed around ideas as to what these guys were doing on the bridge. Parade? Movie? Stargazing? Halfway across the bridge we received an answer. The sky suddenly erupted overhead and sounded like we were being bombed. Fireworks! It was the 100 anniversary of the Portland Rose Festival. We were directly under the fireworks. Lucky us. We tried to get away from the crowds as quickly as possible. We were tired and hungry. We followed the network of one way streets around to our hotel, dropped of the car, checked in and headed out again.

We took the advice of the hotel staff and walked up to a couple of late night restaurants. The bar at Higgins has a great reputation for good food. I ate there last year during the American Cheese Society conference. We walked in and walked out almost immediately. The bar was packed, noisy, and no one was ready to vacate any time soon. Plan B: South Park Seafood Grill. A great choice. They feature lots of local items on the menu like Northwest Oysters, local beef, pork, veggies, and a huge wine list. Jim had oysters and a roasted pork loin sandwich. I had the curried zucchini and carrot soup and the onion tart topped with a dollop of crème fraiche. Both were perfectly prepared. We ate quickly and walked the three blocks back to our hotel. We had a full day planned for Saturday.

We were up early and headed over to the Heathman Hotel for a filling breakfast before heading to the farmer's market at Portland State. At 8:45 we were at the Portland Farmers Market looking at a very crowded farmer's market set up amongst the trees on campus. I was focused on the cheese vendors, but there were a lot of really nice looking things for sale. Beautiful strawberries were on many tables, fresh peonies and other flowers, pastries, greens, countless varieties of veggies, pork, beef, and coffee. There are several bakeries selling magificent breads and treats. This is civilized! Some vendors had a line of 30 people waiting to pay. This is a very popular market. There were several cheese vendors. It is good to know what the competition/cheesemaking bretheren are doing. I need to see if there is room for what I want to do.

Jim and I walked around sampling everyone's products and buying something to take to Uncle Wayne and Aunt Linda's. Market analysis is a favorite part of my business plan! I love bringing my cheesemonger skills into play.
-There was an older couple from Washington who raise Nubians. They had some very goaty fresh cheeses and feta for sale. Pretty basic selection. Country Pride Farm.
-Down the aisle was the Willamette Valley Cheese Company. I got to visits their facility with an American Cheese Society tour group. They make goudas from cow's milk. They make their cheese in Polk County, between McMinnville and Salem. The family owns a herd of Jersey cows and make some pretty good goudas. I have no interest in making goudas, so I'm happy someone else nearby makes a tasty one.
-Rogue Creamery has a stand selling their blue cheese. They make some great ones and I really like the owners, David and Cary. They're very active in the American Cheese Society and approach their business with an eye towards sustainability. Echo Mountain is a goat/cow milk blue that is one of my favorite domestic blues.
-Another vendor, Oregon Gourmet Cheese makes soft, bloomy rinded cheese like camembert. Hmmm. The cheese I tried tasted bitter. Bitterness is a flaw in cheesemaking.

-We moved on to try cheese from Ancient Heritage. This was my favorite vendor. They have a herd of sheep and are making some beautiful cheese. Hannah Bridge, the hard, natural rind cheese is nice and nutty with a good finish. Valentine, the soft, bloomy rinded cheese is rich and creamy with buttery notes. We bought a piece of the hard cheese and continued around the market.
-Juniper Grove Farm, a goat dairy has a stand at the Portland State market, too. Their cheese tends to be quite strong and goaty. Not a favorite for me personally even though I love goat cheese. We tried their selection and bought a tub of fresh chevre. Note: when we tried the chevre, I noticed that it tasted smoky. Obviously, the fresh curds were in the same refrigerator with smoked cheese. Smoked cheese is so powerful, it can taint everything else around it. The cheese wasn't bad, I just couldn't get past the smoky flavor. Oh well. Plus, the salesgirl was having a bad day. She never cracked a smile.
-We wrapped up our market research at Fraga Farm. They're an organic goat dairy. Nice fresh chevres and good feta. The enthusiastic cheesemaker's apprentice really helped sell the cheese.

The competition looks good, but I am happy to say that I like the cheese produced at Goat Lady Dairy, Ticklemore and Cowgirl Creamery better than anything I tried at the market. If I can make anything comparable to my mentors, I'd be thrilled. There is room for me here.

We spent part of the afternoon at a dairy goat show in Canby, at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. Woo hoo! Our friends Chris and Elaine drove down to hang out with us and look at goats. We had fun. I met a couple of nice folks and tried to get a feel for who might have milk to sell. I also got to see some beautiful Oberhalsi does. A breed that looks like a deer. Hmmm. Maybe two or three goats would be nice to have around the house.



The rest of the trip was spent in Yamhill County. Jim's Uncle Wayne and his wife Linda live in McMinnville. They're amazing hosts and love showing us around the area. Wayne and Linda seem to know everyone in town. We enjoy spending time with them and sharing our thoughts and plans for the future. They're eager to see us settle nearby and have been so supportive.

We looked at farms all over Yamhill County. We saw some dumps and some amazing places. Nothing felt like "THIS IS IT!" We will continue to look around.

Our next trip to Oregon is this weekend. We're driving around some more and talking to the planning department. I want to make sure I can do what I want to do where I want to do it.

On my bookshelf

It is no secret that I love books. I have a house full of them. Every room has shelves overflowing with collections of nature essays, travel guides, bird identification guides, photographic studies of trains, kids books, science fiction and fantasy (I never said I wasn't a geek!), and of course cookbooks.

Everything is organized by category and in the case of large collections (like sci-fi & fantasy) it is alphabetized. Cookbooks are arranged by subject: light fare, international, baking, down-home, and the "go-to" books for general cooking like Joy of Cooking. I have three copies of the Joy of Cooking. Jim has his old copy 1974© stuffed full of recipes, I have my old copy 1974© stuffed full of recipes and with plenty of notes written all over it. The new edition is located on the bookshelf closest to the stove where I can grab it in a hurry if I need to looks something up.

Other "go-to" books on my bookshelf: The Settlement Cookbook. This is the cookbook that my mom always used when she wasn't using Joy. The cover of my edition has a picture of a heart with pairs of young women in long skirts, aprons and chef's hats reading cookbooks, walking into the heart. The cover reads: The way to a man's heart The Settlement Cook Book. I inherited my copy from my Grandma Edith. I get misty eyed looking at the recipes for Ragalach a la "Hennie" and Taglach a la "Hennie" written in her distinctive penmanship on green pages of the inside front cover. Settlement was originally published at the dawn of the 20th century in Milwaukee. It was intended as a tool to help new immigrant women learn how to cook like an American. But the cookbook didn't limit the recipes to things like ambrosia salad or fried chicken. It included recipes from the European immigrant community of Milwaukee, many of whom were Jewish. Mrs. Kander, the head of the original editor saw fit to include recipes for Challah, gefilte fish, and jellied veal loaf (sulz.) There are etiquette lessons, guides for feeding invalids (sic.), recipes for diets low in sugar, starch, or free of wheat, eggs, or milk. Amazingly enlightened for my 1945© edition. I also have revised edition from 1991. I used both of them frequently.

The bookshelf with the fastest growing collection are my cheese books. I've been seeking out plenty of reference books as I've been learning all about cheese. My favorites are the guide books to cheese are by Max McCalman's Cheese, Steven Jenkins' Cheese Primer, Laura Werlin's two books, New American Cheese and All American Cheese and Wine Book. For a how to make cheese at home I love Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making. My favorite text book on the science of cheesemaking is by Paul Kindstedt's American Farmstead Cheese. It is the most critical book on my shelf. It answers the questions that I have about why milk reacts the way it does under specific conditions. Very useful.