Mircobiology, It never really left me

I can't quite remember why I chose to study microbiology. I think it had something to do with the movie "Medicine Man" but in any case, at some point in my first two years at GMCC I decided to specialize in Microbiology. It was a bit of a journey for someone like me who tends to absorb information readily but bombs tests. In the long run (6 years later) I ended up with a degree in Microbiology minus an arts course and two Chemistry courses that I dropped out of (so really it's just a pretend degree). side note: Perhaps someday I will expound upon how DepoProvera can cause temporary insanity and personality mutations as I now look back and view a long string of erratic desicions rooted in the year I was on that drug. But I will save those rants for later.
Now, years later, the desire to grow aromatically fascinating things is still there.


I'd like to do more research into Kombucha. I heard a few things about it and decided to order a mushroom through Richters http://www.richters.com/ We have had a steady supply of this delicious Komucha drink since May and the mushroom is still going strong. Kombucha originates in Russia and is made using black tea, white sugar, and the Kombucha mushroom which magically transforms the glucose, and tea and turns them into a whole host of things including carbon dioxide (makes it fizzy, yum) and glucuronic acid, a chemical made by the liver to eliminate toxins from the body. It is the best hangover cure I know, and is also good for anyone who's ever had liver disease, or who has a highly toxic diet (eating lots of ready made foods).


Recently I have started a wonderful journey into the making of cheese. I ordered a kit from http://www.glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/ and I've been having so much fun. I tried at first to make mozerella and ended up with pure rubber. It was truely inedible. But then again, I was following an online recipe which can never be trusted. I am now making couloumier using a recipe the kit provided. It is still young, only 1 week, and my first taste test makes me think of chevre with a brie rind. An unusual combination but defenitely palatable. I think I will store half the cheeses at this stage and let the other half age longer to the soft and gooey cheese stage.


Now for a news flash from the studio: WE HAVE BLANKETS! I have woven 12 full ones and about 4 half blankets and I have four more on the loom patiently awaiting completion. In this weather (snow, sleet, and rain) it may take awhile as the most time I spend weaving is when my children are happily frolicking outdoors by my studio.