DIY dairy

I experimented with making yogurt once or twice, a few years ago, just for fun. But I never really got into the habit. Making yogurt didn’t seem that difficult, but I would have had to do it a lot, given my consumption rate; plus my favorite kind is Greek yogurt, which involves the extra step of straining the yogurt to make it nice and thick. At that time I was living in England, where I could easily get my Greek yogurt fix at even my crummy local Sainsbury’s. I went through a 500 g (1+ lb) pot a week without even trying.

Then I moved to Australia, where they sold the stuff in 1-kg (2+ lb) tubs that cost not much more than the ones half their size had in Oxford. I was in yogurt heaven, and used it in everything: pancakes and pan sauces, muffins and dips.

Then I moved here.

Wordless Wednesday

Santa Monica, California, USA, December 2009

Bad taste

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Last week, some new friends of ours invited Miss B and me to a “Taste of” event being hosted by a neighboring city. We enthusiastically accepted; it was early enough in the evening so that Miss B would enjoy it, and I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to meet some of the local food types and find out what was happening around here. Visions of tasty samples and blog posts danced in my head.

We made a plan, and arrived at the venue just after the doors opened on Saturday evening. There was already a small line of people waiting to get in, which whetted my anticipation even more. It looked to be a popular event, the perfect way for a newcomer like me to get some real knowledge about the local scene, food and otherwise.

As we stood in line, chatting about nothing much, the woman in front turned to us. At first I thought she knew our friends, but then she held her ticket out to us.