Idyll Dreams & Nonsensical Things

Yep, cheese! Or more accurately, how to make it. When I was writing The Broken Court there was a sentence, this sentence actually…

Some of what was left, she set near the hearth with the plans that she would make cheese with it.

which sent me off into an hour-plus long search on making cheese. I wondered, could you really make cheese at home? Do you need special equipment? Is there a particular way in which you need to do things? Or a certain kind of place where you should store it? The answer to all of those questions is yes, by the way, depending on what kind of cheese you want to try to make. I did end up making homemade ricotta which was interesting, and it didn’t turn out half bad! (by the way, that whole thing led me to look up spring houses :D)

That was not the only sentence that had some sort of off-hand reference which ultimately sent me off into internet Wonderland.

 For some company and a bit of honeycomb, he was happy to allow her to gather clay from a particularly fine deposit residing in the pond’s banks.

Yep, next thing you know I am looking up how to find clay in the wild!

The journey is neverending! So here are the links, if you’re curious, as well as some more complete quotes to give the above sentences a little context. Of course, you could always read The Broken Court (if you haven’t already), then you would really know what was going on. 🙂

A quick note – I am not affiliated with any of the sites whose links I have shared below. I make no money if you click on them, and any of the ads or opinions seen there do not necessarily reflect my own opinions or suggestions.

Homemade fresh cheese

Cheddar Cheese Recipe

Farmhouse Cheddar

Things to for in traditional cheese

How to make a cheese cave

Cheesemaking – ripening

Affinage and Aging – How We Make Cheese

Clay – Digging your own

The Spring Cellar

Also, if you are interested in seeing some of the pictures that helped set the mood for my Stolen Away series, go take a look at my Pinterest here.

Quotes:

Despite the phooka’s tendency towards needling her, the eld woman had to admit the rest of the day was a peaceful one. She took great pleasure in seeing the obvious joy Lumina felt in sharing with them how much her glade had recovered. And it seemed the land around them preened under its mistress’s praise, so much so that the air itself gleamed. It was a vivid contrast to the dullness of the wood they had just come from. 

It was well past midday when they left Lumina’s merry company. They returned home in the warm haze of a golden afternoon, and the eld woman soon set to work skimming the cream from the top of the milk. Most of it went to Thom who happily began to churn it into butter. Some of what was left, she set near the hearth with the plans that she would make cheese with it. The rest was poured into earthenware crocks to be used later. She put the phooka to work carrying them to the spring cellar. He did so cheerfully, though she suspected a few were lighter by the time they had made it there, payment taken for a job well done.

-The Broken Court, Chapter 4 – Portents and Ill Airs

They had headed out that particular morning with the intent of visiting the quiet pond where a urisk lived. For some company and a bit of honeycomb, he was happy to allow her to gather clay from a particularly fine deposit residing in the pond’s banks. 

The rising sun found them already walking down one of the ancient roads that ran through the goblins’ wood. Beside them a bright silver ribbon of a stream tumbled over ebony boulders as it hurried along. 

Thom was a little way in front, with Hoax and herself following unhurriedly in his wake. The phooka, as an oddity, was in his human skin, possibly because he was tired of her loading him down with things. Of course, she still had him carrying the large basket which she herself usually carried on her back, so he had not really escaped.

-The Broken Court, Chapter 6 – The Broken Court