Cheese Class

Last Friday my sister and I went up to Sacramento to attend a cheese class being held in nearby Davis. The class was on Saturday. We went on Friday so we'd have plenty of time to shop.

When we got into Sacramento it was still too early to check in at the hotel so we drove on through to Davis. One of the things I had wanted to shop for was a new bridle for my horse since she broke the other one. (I'm currently using a spare of my sister's.) Prior to the trip I found a couple of tack shops on line that were in the area and we headed out to find this one in Davis.

We found the store with no trouble at all. It was nice because it had a large selection of English tack, something we don't have in Bakersfield. I found a nice bridle and and even though it came with braided reins I bought a really neat pair of reins that have rubber for good gripping. My horse went lame last weekend so I'm hoping it's not anything serious. She is older, after all, and has a bit of ringbone, but that's certainly not stopped her so far. I'm hoping it's just a stone bruise. Time will tell...

Afterwards we decided to see if we could find the location of the class. It was at a Co-op Grocery store and we found it easily enough. I'm sure glad we had my laptop and aircard so we could Mapquest everything!

We broused inside the store for a while. It was marvelous. They had a great deli counter, meat counter, and a good sized cheese counter! We picked up several kinds of cheeses, some crackers, and pears. On the way out of the store we noticed catty-corner was the building where the class was to take place. So far so good!

By this time it was time to check in to the hotel and we headed back to Sacramento. I don't know how this happened but we drove right past the exit and were almost out of Sacramento before we realized we had gone too far. Probably too much yacking in the car.

We finally got checked in and got all our grocery goodies out for dinner. I had brought a small bottle of wine from home and it was the perfect amount for both of us.

I thought the first picture wasn't "pretty" so we decided to play with our food. See what a little food styling can do?

After dinner we went for a walk to the strip mall across the way. On our way there we saw this thistle.

This is the hotel we stayed in, the Residence Inn Sacramento Airport Natomas. I love these hotels because you get a full kitchen. Our room had two separate bedrooms and we each had our own bathroom. It sounds like it would be costly but it was the same or less than a Holiday Inn (regular room) that was suggested to my sister. My husband and I have stayed in this particular hotel numerous times.

The cheese class didn't start until two o'clock on Saturday so we had plenty of time to do more shopping. My sister had heard about the Arden Fair Mall so we looked it up on Mapquest and figured out where we were going to go.

Once again we ended up missing the turn off street and went quite a bit out of the way. We got the computer out and looked again. I'm still not sure how we missed the street but we got there eventually.

We did some more shopping and this time it was clothes for my sister, smelly soaps and candles for me, and makeup and lotions for both of us. With about two hours til class time we found a place and got pedicures.

The cheese class was very interesting, if not a bit intimidating (to me). There were about 18 people in the class and only about 3 of us (including myself) had never made cheese before. And surpringly my sister and I were not from the furthest away. That distinction went to a couple from Long Beach! And I forgot to bring my camera in with me so there are no pictures from the class.

Anyway, everyone was very nice and it was fun. We all got to do hands-on stirring, curd breaking, forming, and salting. We each made our own little camembert (the class was called The Science and Permutations of Camembert) and we were able to take them home. (The pen is to show size.)

It still has several weeks to ripen and age before it will be ready. I hope it turns out ok.

One thing this class did was make me want to have sheep again. But that won't happen until we move to a bigger property (hopefully sometime this year or early next year--I'd rather sooner than later!).

My sister and I had a great time, even though I, for one, spent way too much money. But after thinking about it I don't feel too bad about it. My husband bought a new handgun earlier this year and my purchases were about one fourth of what he spent. So there.

Say cheese! ☺