Slowbowl Saturday Night Dinner

After a very full day of activities, drives to the beach and the countryside for some, shopping in town for others, touring and tasting of great wines for all and a great learning experience making cheese we all return to the cottage for our big potluck dinner.

A perfect time to catch up with old friends.

Brad, Palma, Krista and Steve

Krista, Alan, Mike, Deborah and Bill

Isn't it funny how the kitchen is such a good gathering spot?

Ooooh time for some great food.

Wendy and Rob prepared such beautiful cheese platters

Okay everyone, "Dinners on!"

Slowertravellers know how to party and they sure can cook!

Here's Marta from Seattle and Colleen from the Bay area.

Deborah from St. Louis brought some of her home brewed liquors...Wow were they ever potent and exotic.

Wendy and Sharon brought bags and bags of prizes. The categories ranged from who travelled the furthest to come to this years slowbowl to who is the newest member of slowtravel and on and on. Thank you Wendy and Sharon for all the special gifts you brought.

And then there were the desserts...

Palma's cupcakes that were decorated so beautifully

Rebecca's light as air nutella with cream filled little bites of heaven (that's what I called them)

Earlier in the afternoon Shannon was busy making ice cream. We had "candied bacon ice cream" (that was a first for me), ice cream with absinthe, and mexican chocolate ice cream.

These cookies were to die for. My absolute favorites. Palma made these chocolate sandwich cookies filled with nutella and a touch of sea salt. Oh my...that sweet and salty were a great combo.

Oooh more chocolate and red velvet cupcakes by Palma.

Marcia from Pasadena and Alan and Harriet from Santa Barbara

We had such nice weather that sitting outside was very pleasant.

At evenings end our die hard BlackJack fans once again tried their luck. Wendy and Dave took turns dealing the cards. I have no idea who the big winner was.

We said goodnight to our our slowbowl friends. On Sunday some will stay on at the cottage to visit more wineries, have a picnic,watch the super bowl football game and eat chili, others will meet for brunch at a wonderful Paso Robles restaurant called "The Artisan" and others will take leave for their return home.

It has been another wonderful "Slowbowl" weekend. Great friends, great fun and lots of laughter.

Hope to see you all again next year or sooner!

The Great Burrata Cheese Adventure

After our winery tours some of the our slowbowler group signed up for a "Burrata cheese making class".

All the ingredients and tools needed for cheese making were neatly laid out.

Having a very clean and sterile setting is most desirable.

Here is our instructor, Alan, giving us background on burrata cheese making.

The two Mike's paid close attention to all the details. Making cheese has alot of components which are scientific in nature. These two guys seemed to love all the details. (Me, not so much).

You need to add citric acid to the milk to stimulate the curdling.

There were other ingredients to be added at specific times like lipase mixed with water. Temperatures needed to be monitored carefully (we left that up to the men!) And there was stirring involved and watching the time for resting periods.

The milk begins to curdle and you use this ladle in an up and down motion to help with the curdling.

At a specific temperature and after a resting period you cut the curds in one inch squares.

Now you need to drain off the whey (all the watery parts from the cheese).

Things were really busy for the men at this point because we had more than one batch of cheese being made...again timing, temperature and rest periods are critical in getting just the right consistency. My husband was really into this process. I could see we would have cheese making in our future.

You need to buy good cheesecloth to drain the whey from the curds. Don't buy the cheesecloth that they sell at your local grocer. We were told it would not work.

Now alot of squeezing goes on to get rid of all the liquid. First with the cheesecloth

Then with your hands. (Dont' worry Alan made sure we all washed our hands well.)

Once you are satisfied that all the water has been removed the fun begins...

You will begin to stretch and pull the cheese like taffy.

Deborah volunteered for this.

You can see the consistency begins to look like the mozarella you are used to seeing.

Then we all joined in to pull off segments to make little bite size balls. You can either fill it with the cream filling (we used marscapone) or just make a little ball to serve.

This was lots of fun. We were getting close to the eating part.

Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is usually served fresh, at room temperature. The name "burrata" means "buttered" in Italian.

Burrata starts out much like mozzarella and many other cheeses, with rennet used to curdle the warm milk. But then, unlike other cheeses, fresh mozzarella curds are plunged into hot whey or lightly salted water, kneaded and pulled to develop the familiar stretchy strings (pasta filata), then shaped in whatever form is desired.
When making Burrata, the still-hot cheese is formed into a pouch, which is then filled with scraps of leftover mozzarella and topped off with fresh cream (panna) before closing. -Wikipedia

We then devoured the finished product with all our friends. You can choose to dip the burrata in good olive oil, a variety of flavored salts or you can just eat it alone, it has a wonderful flavor just as it is. Lots of ways to serve it.

It was a great workshop. Shannon thank you for arranging this class for us. A true wonderful learning experience. We'll be making cheese in our home for sure.

When the Burrata is sliced open, its panna (cream) flows out. The cheese has a rich, buttery flavor, and retains its fresh milkiness. It is best when eaten within 24 hours, and is considered past its prime after 48 hours. The flavour and different textures of the inside and outside make it go well with salad, prosciutto crudo, crusty bread, fresh tomatoes with olive oil and cracked black pepper, or pasta. It can be served fresh on a cutting board with a huge knife. -wikipedia

"Blessed are the cheesemakers." -Monty Python

Wallace: "Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese! "
[Looks at "Cheese Holidays" magazine, then out window] - From A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit

*Special thanks again to my slowtrav peeps for sharing their photos with me. Especially Palmabella who documents things so well with her camera. Gazie mille!

Moonstone Beach, Cambria California

Saturday morning was a leisure time for us, since our first group wine tasting appointment was not until 11:30. We decided to take the short drive from Paso Robles to have breakfast in the quaint seaside town of Cambria. This map shows the location of Paso Robles and the coastal town of Cambria.

The morning was clear and sunny with blue skies. It's a very pleasant drive on

Hwy 46.

The scenic drive will take you through rolling hills,

farmlands and fields of vineyards.

When you get to the coast highway you will make a right turn and in just a few miles you will see signs to enter the town of Cambria.

We headed to Linns Bakery for breakfast.

They have a wonderful bakery. We had a hearty breakfast (I got my desired scone with lemon curd) and a good cup of coffee to get the morning started.

If you have time there are many pleasant little streets to wander and shop.

After breakfast we drove to the end of town and back across the highway to "Moonstone Beach". It's such a beautiful stretch of beach, pleasant and peaceful for a nice morning walk.

You'll see a few people strolling the wooden pathways that lead onto the sandy beach.

These pathways stretch for long distances and make strolling pleasant with easy access to the sand and sea.

We walked along the oceans edge searching for treasures.

You can find all kinds of pretty rocks and some moonstones can still be found.

Mike loves to collect rocks and he was busy stuffing ocean treasures in his pockets.

Be sure to make a stop at Moonstone Beach if you are ever journeying in this area.

The name “moonstone” was coined by the ancient Greeks to describe gemstones that displayed the moon's ethereal silvery light. They valued the moonstone as a talisman for lovers. To wear it was thought to arouse the most tender of passions and true love. It was also believed that wearing the stone conveyed knowledge of future events, and could guide a person in making important decisions. The Romans thought Moonstone to be formed out of moonlight as well and to be the stone of sensitivity and love. In India today, moonstone is considered to be sacred and magical. It is thought to be a "Dream Stone", bringing about sweet and beautiful dreams. In the Far East moonstone is said to balance yin and yang and promote greater flexibility and flow with life. Moonstone amulets are tied to the ancient legends of the moon goddess of Egypt, Isis, the Greek deity, Selene and the Roman goddess of the moon, Diana.