My mother's hope chest, revisited

A few months ago I mentioned getting rid of stuff.  One of the items I was going to do something with was my mother's hope chest, which was made for her by her dad when she was a teenager.  It had been stored in the barn for years.  I had made a feeble, very unsuccessful attempt to remove the varnish, which only put the poor thing in worse shape.  In 2010 I did an entry about it, with pictures, HERE.  
My children are not sentimental about family mementoes passed down from people they never knew.  I have no skills or patience at working with furniture... I'm the person who doesn't even bother to decorate her home.  I sort of camp out wherever I live and I am perfectly happy that way.  I was going to pay someone to restore the chest to its former glory, but once Cliff retired, we didn't have extra funds for that.  
A cousin in Iowa read my entry last summer and emailed me, saying that if nobody else wanted the chest, she would take it.  I was so happy to know this piece of furniture, made by my grandfather's hands, would stay in the family.  Pauline has several children, so there is a good chance it will be in the family for more generations.  She sent me an email to let me know what she has done so far, and to tell me of the plans she has for this treasure.

Here's what she had to say about the project:  
"I am glad that I have the chest pretty well sanded.  I still have to work on a couple of the legs and a couple spots on the top.  I have decided to use wood pegs to attach the legs.  And won't put the wheels back on.  The lid is still a challenge.  I think we will have to shim around the edges of the top of the chest or possibly even turn the lid upside down.  I couldn't believe how many nails were in those legs.  Just taking them off was a challenge.  But it is starting to look good.  Our oldest son, Jeff made a cedar chest when he was in high school, about 32 years ago.  Since we save almost everything, I still had some pieces of cedar left.  Now the question becomes, Where did I put it?  It took me a couple days to find, as I had moved it from the store room to the basement and finally to an out building in a barrel.  After looking in the first two places my memory finally kicked in and I was able to find it.  So I got the boards cut and are ready to lay in the bottom of the chest.  I have enough that I could line the sides, but I don't think I will." 

 So the chest is saved for future generations.  I'm happy, and glad I have a cousin industrious and talented enough to tackle this project.  Cliff and I laughed at her comment about the nails, because we are pretty sure one of my parents was responsible for that.  I think the legs fell off and they just nailed them back on any which way.    

The perils of cheese-making

I have attempted to make hard cheese no more than a half-dozen times.  Once it actually looked and tasted like real cheese, similar to cheddar.  Except it wasn't yellow.  You have to add coloring if you want yellow cheese.  Another time it turned out to be a dry, crumbly cheese similar to Feta, and was very good used in salad even though it was supposed to be a hard cheese like Cheddar.  The other three or four times, it was a total flop.  

I have played around with this cheese-making process enough to halfway know what the curds should look like before you start heating them.  

Yesterday afternoon I relieved Bonnie of her excess milk, brought it in and strained it, and poured it into a large stainless steel pan.  I inoculated it with 1/4 cup of store-bought buttermilk, covered it with a towel, and let it set undisturbed until this morning.  First thing when I got up, I dissolved half a rennet tablet in 1/4 cup water, stirred it into the milk, and let it sit for another hour.  Then I cut the curd.  I was supposed to end up with 1/2 inch curds, but for some reason the curds broke up into smaller bits and I knew I had another flop on my hands.  Oh well, chickens love any sort of failed cheese product.  I decided to taste the mess, anyhow, just to see.  

It tasted like cottage cheese!  Well hey, even though I did not use the proper recipe for cottage cheese, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck...    

I don't know why there is a yellowish cast to this picture.  The colander and the curds are actually white.  So I washed the curds in cold water a few times.  They are draining right now, as you see in the picture.  All I have to do is add a little cream.  I may have cottage cheese with canned pears for breakfast.   
If I get a full gallon of milk from Bonnie again, I guess I will try for hard cheese again tomorrow.