My first attempt to making Crottin turned out quite delicious but not exactly how it’s supposed to be. It was much flatter and much creamier.

As a refresher, this is what I’m aiming for:

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

The width is supposed to be more or less the same as the height, the rind is bloomy but not thick, the paste is solid (but not hard) and it dries/hardens as it ages.

This time I achieved a much better shape. To get that, you just pack the molds with more curd. “Pack” is actually not the right word since you have to let the curds drain a bit before you add more curd. The draining happens solely thanks to holes in the molds and the natural weight of the curd.

You can tell that the bloom is fairly thick though. There’s lots of fuzz happening, which tends to get wrinkly after a while. That’s great in some cases, but it’s not what we’re going for here.

When you cut it, a nice fairly firm paste is discovered wrapped in a fairly thick rind, with.. with… with… ash! Yep, I played with ash. It’s that darker, grayer layer in between the paste and the white rind. It’s purely for aesthetic purposes and I have to say… I like it! I know, I know, I should only be tweaking one thing at a time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. But man, adding ash was fun!

Anyways, you can also notice that there’s a thin layer of cream forming right under the rind… quite nice, but again, not exactly it.

I criticize, I analyze, but to the taste, this cheese is de-li-cious. It’s light and slightly goaty, a little chalky to the texture (but good chalky) with a subtle sweet finish. No acidity, no bitterness.

So all in all, this second attempt is MUCH better than the first one. It still has some cosmetic tweaks to be made. I think I’m most guilty of inoculating the milk with way too much mold bacteria which makes the rind bloom too much and creates that cream layer… I think.

Guess what? I’ll try it again. I love this hobby!

Third and last installment of the I-would-like-to-give-away-my-paintings blog post series. After my large and my medium paintings… guess what? Yep, here are the small ones.

Like their big brothers, they are all acrylics on canvas… they all want a new home… want one?

#1 Warm abstract — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 14″x11″ (36cm x 28cm)
Date: 2005
Story: I think I made this one before the big warm colors abstract. I wanted to play with gradients, but not in a smooth way and with a bit of energy. I really like this painting.

#2 Blue Rose — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 10″x8″ (25cm x 20cm)
Date: Aug. 2005
Story: Warm colors, warm colors… gotta explore the other side too! And here we are in the blues, in the off centers.

#3 Crouched Man Holding Head

Dimensions: 12″x12″ (31cm x 31cm)
Date: 2005
Story: There’s a statue like that… I can’t remember what it’s called. You know, when you hold the guy in your hands it’s supposed to fit all of your fingers nicely along his spine, muscles and arms. Anyways, I like that body position and wanted to step away from my bright colors for a minute to see what happens.

#4 Nude laying and facing back — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 16″x8″ (40cm x 20cm)
Date: 2005
Story: Female attempt of the no-Stephanie-bright-colors series. I’m pretty sure this is an image I found in an art book or magazine.

#5 This and that and lots of chaos — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 10″x8″ (25cm x 20cm)
Date: 2005
Story: Back to colors! This is probably the quickest painting I’ve ever made. It took probably 45 seconds. Splash splash splash! It’s actually the color palette for another painting that I just flipped onto a canvas. Thought it would be cool and fun. Turned out messy, but still really fun.

Voila! You know everything of my past artistic life… on canvas.

Post number 2 of the I-would-like-to-give-away-my-paintings saga. After posting my large paintings of the past, here are my medium paintings begging for a new home.

They are all acrylics on canvas… want one?

#1 Upside down — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 12″x24″ (31cm x 62cm)
Date: July 2005
Story: I thought it would be cool to paint only a portion of a body position leaving the rest to the imagination. Some people think this person is diving. I thought of it as a hand stand. You can think whatever you wish.

#2 Ladders — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 12″x24″ (31cm x 62cm)
Date: 2005
Story: This one has a more philosophical meaning to me. I was in my spreading-my-wings phase, in the I-can-do-this-on-my-own phase. This is about the point where you can keep climbing the ladder (evolve, not the career ladder) without any support or guidance (the sides of the ladder) and not be scared to take risks and keep going. You are free.

#3 Abstract Rain — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 24″x18″ (61cm x 46cm)
Date: 2005
Story: I don’t know what kind of mood I was in that day, but apparently lots was going on. I just remember having fun making it. Splash!

#4 Fun with Tape — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 18″x14″ (46cmx36cm)
Date: Sept 2005
Story: Oh yes, this one was fun too. It was like a surprise. I would paint a bunch of vivid, warm colors and let dry. Then place some tape on the dry layer. Over the whole thing I then painted an opaque layer of dark blue. Let dry. And then came the best part… peeling off the tape. Surprise colors! Surprise contrast! Anyways, that was fun too.

#5 Fish in Coral — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 24″x18″ (61cm x 46cm)
Date: 2004
Story: Hmm yeah… don’t ask. That was probably right after seeing Finding Nemo or something. Not sure how this one came about but apparently I needed to get my candor out. Cutesy, cartoony wittle fishy.

At some point in my life, my wallet was pretty skinny and my walls were pretty white. I needed artwork, but couldn’t afford to buy any, so I decided to make my own. I am by no means a highly trained painter, although I did take a few art classes in high school and liked to sketch in my spare time. But mostly, it’s just improv.

Since then, my tastes have evolved, and so has my life situation. All of these paintings are sitting in a closet, being ignored and collecting dust. Well, not really collecting dust, because I wrapped them really well, but you get the point. Justin and I have been getting rid of stuff (almost to the addiction level) and I realized that I didn’t need to hold onto these paintings any longer.

I have large paintings, medium and small ones. I would like to give these paintings away… if ever you’re interested, just leave a comment. I’m not selling them, I just want them to find a home. I know most of them are a little weird… but hey, maybe one of you will like something.

Here they are… large paintings… acrylics on canvas… want one?

#1 Abstract warm colors — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 24″x 30″ (61cm x 74cm)
Date: 2005
Story: I have gone through a very warm color phase (you will notice….) and needed to cover a lot of wall space. So there you go… lots of energy in this painting.

#2 Female – Male – Hot – Cold — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 12″x24″ each (31cm x 62cm)
Date: Dec 2004
Story: These are 2 separate paintings but meant to be near each other, very much like I was viewing male and female – very different, almost opposites yet needed to coexist. Their energy is different, their colors are different, but in form and intention, they are the same. I had these in my bedroom for a long while.

#3 Deconstructed wave — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 36″x18″ (92cm x 46cm)
Date: May 2005
Story: Another one of those situations where I needed to cover a lot of wall space. I thought it would be cool to make a wave, but without its fluidity, yet evoking movement. This is my attempt.

#4 Flower — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 18″x24″ (46cm x 61cm)
Date: 2005
Story: I remember being attracted to flower paintings in general and thinking I could make one. Warm colors were obligatory and I started playing with really wet drips of paint to give the sort of flower veins a certain controlled randomness.

#5 Hippie trinity — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 24″x24″ (61cm x 61cm)
Date: Dec 2004
Story: Ok, this is my hippiest creation, I think. There’s not much to say about the women themselves. I thought of the positions more like a choreography than with an actual meaning. I just wanted to focus on the primary and secondary colors with their complementaries. The basics.

This year I had no idea what to get anyone for Christmas. I new I didn’t want to get generic and I wanted to give something more personal.
I had bought some little 3.5″ x 3.5″ (9cm x 9cm) canvas a long time ago with the idea of making some little paintings to put around the house or the kitchen. Remembering I had those sitting in the closet, I thought it might be neat to paint a tiny little something for everyone I wanted to give a gift. I had 9 canvases and thankfully the number of people matched exactly. 9 paintings it was!

What could I possibly paint that pretty much anyone can relate to, that’s not too complicated and that can offer some contrast?… Food!… and food related things. It took me about an hour per painting. A couple were a little longer, but not much. I used the Tempera paint that Justin’s family got me the previous Christmas and voila! Here’s the little bunch of paintings all together.

Now they are scattered all over the world… well, the US and France. Each person has a little piece of this project, a little piece of me.

Back in November I heard that Justin’s sister, Katie, really got into Brie lately. So I thought to myself… hmm… I have 4ish weeks to make her a Brie (Camembert size) and it will be a little on the young side, which will be perfect. Christmas gift, check!

So I brought 2 Camembert size Bries and 2 St Marcellin size ones. The first bigger one was munched on by her, Justin and I…. little wedge by little wedge and woosh it was gone. The second one, I wrapped it in a pre-made (didn’t have the patience to go for homemade) puff pastry. You know how many times you have to fold the dough to make puff pastry? Too many, that’s how many.

Anyways… puff pastry with some homemade jam (see, I make other srtuff than cheese) and some crushed almonds. I baked in the oven for a good 30-35 minutes and it turned out golden, melty, yummy. Maybe a little too doughy for me, but still really yummy. The Brie practically dissolved.

Next time, I might try Phyllo dough.