Aber and Out: I Found the Polish Cook Book

We had a nice trip into Walsenburg to pick up some milk for Jay's cheese making and saw 6 deer on the road from Cuchara to LaVeta. The deer were the tame city variety and we haven't seen any up in the wild near us yet. There's plenty of wildlife sign around here but nothing seems to be sticking around long enough for us to get a peek at it.

We decided to have a big night out on Friday evening and went to the Dog Bar in Cuchara. I even blow dried my hair and put on makeup. There was lots of interest in us new kids in town and we met several of the locals. I'd say a good 20 people came and went as we ate though the place was less than half full the entire time. We dined on fresh salads as we don't keep a large supply of fresh veggies on hand at the condo. The food was good and it was nice to see some other human beings. The owner of the bar filled us in on some upcoming events including some live bands and a local game of broom ball that will be taking place up at the ski resort. We'll report back when we figure out just what broom ball is.

With 6 gallons of milk in the fridge Jay is hard at work getting some cheeses made and ready for curing in his makeshift humidity closet in the basement. I'm sure he'll be posting a detailed cheese making update soon. While Jay has been in the kitchen stirring his curds and whey I have been cooking alongside him. After some experimentation with a bread maker donated to the condo by my sister-in-law Amy, I've finally got a loaf to come out without one end being sunken in. A cinnamon raisin loaf is kneading away in the cooker now. The bread maker has been a good introduction to working with bread making ingredients and sure does make easy work of getting a loaf of bread made. Soon I hope to graduate to the real deal, baking in the oven, and kneading the dough myself.

Today I found the Polish cook book and it just so happened that Jay had made a fresh batch of cottage cheese. It seemed that fate had a batch of Pierogies in store for us. They weren't bad for a first attempt, but certainly need the Amy touch with vinegar in the dough next time. We ate the first batch boiled and will freeze the leftovers to be pan fried in butter later.