Saturday, August 24, 2013

Brilliant Barter: Swapping Skills

One sunny Saturday afternoon

a sweet friend came to stay for a day.

She shared her chef skills, 
teaching us along the way. 

We squelched the perfectly fresh, tiny young hens' eggs together with flour.
Under her expert tutelage we kneaded the dough, gently and softly, until it was smooth.


She showed us how to roll it and cut it.


Pepper tagliatelle.

We ate it with creamy leek, bacon and mushroom sauce. 
(Leeks and cream self raised, bacon and mushrooms specially bought for the occasion)

Delicious.

"Barter, what barter?" you may say. 
It was supposed to be a brilliant barter.

I attempted to teach her my cheese making skills.
The curd refused to set. 
I was chatting so much that I misread the thermometer.
So the intended semi firm cheese became an interesting chunky thyme cottage cheese.
I think I owe our chef friend another cheese making afternoon...
... a lovely excuse to have her back again. 

I have always wanted to make chunky cottage cheese. It tasted quite good. 
I wonder if I could replicate that flop.



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