The City Mouse in the Country

This has been a year of progress.  We are entering our third year of country living and I'm actually feeling a little more hopeful than I did this time last year.  We entered the year with vague goals, things that we wanted to accomplish but with little to know idea on how to accomplish them. We managed to get a lot done. Susan could not stand the bathroom and kitchen from day one in our home, and we somehow managed to replace the windows, redo the majority of our kitchen and part of our bathroom.   That was just some of those goals we had in mind at the start of 2022.   Technically the bath is far from done, and the kitchen does need a little more work before I'm ready to call it "finished."  We got things done, that's the important thing. Yes, they took longer than I would have liked. We discussed how to keep your house warm on a budget.   I wanted to plant a small garden and we did have a few containers full of strawberries, some herbs, tomato's and such.

  As you can see, I've an abundance of apples.  A friend of a friend had a bumper crop...and here we are. We have had them for a few days but up until now have not sure what we were going to do with them.  The lovely Sue I'm sure will find away to make a Dutch Apple pie.  I'm sure she'll find something else as well to do with them. It's what I wanted to do with them that interests me.  I like to experiment in the kitchen and generally am not able to.  Mostly because what interests doesn't interest anyone else (See our recipe page for " Farts of Portingale " and a 2000 + year old chicken dish ) and that I don't really feel comfortable in the kitchen unless it's pretty straightforward.  I had apples, a pretty much non used jar of tahini and free time between now and the new year.  It's rare when Susan and I decide to try some things in the kitchen together It all started with toast.  Sue is normally the one that makes breakfast on the weekend

 I found myself wanting to make cheese the other night.  In particular, paneer cheese.  I've not made cheese in some time and it was for that reason that I decided to stay away from something a bit more complex like my beloved Amish Cup Cheese .  It's so simple that you could have it ready within a few hours. I wanted to make paneer for a couple of reasons but mostly because it's a simple cheese to make; only needing milk and an acid like vinegar or citric acid.  It's also used in a lot of Indian recipes, and I just happened to have a couple of jars of simmering sauces for two well known Indian recipes in my pantry.   Since I've been trying to eat more plant based or vegetarian dishes, paneer can be - and often is - used as a meat substitute.   Well many of these dishes are Indian, paneer can be used in a lot of different dishes as well.   As I've said before I'm more "plant based diet curious" than a vegetarian and there are various shades of &

So what comes next?   Most of our house improvement projects are done, but the last blog post I wrote got me thinking about something because winter is closing in on us, although this time two years ago we already had a several inches of snow on the ground.  Today, as I write this we are expecting a balmy 46 F (8 C) although it's rainy and windy so it feels a bit colder.   Sadly winter is on it's way, so my first order of business on a lazy Saturday is creating a bit of a shelter for all the outdoor cats which have adopted us. We have two indoor cats and two indoor/outdoor cats which are our own.  Our neighbor is a good guy but he owns four horses and a goat.  Because of this he keeps a few barn cats around, which serve to keep the rodent population in check and away from his animals feed Our back porch is generally where they hang out  because they are protected on one side by a wall, which serves as a windbreak and they also know that Sue and I are totally powerless agai