Nothing to it!

I don't know what the heck is wrong with me lately -- work is just as tiring as ever, but somehow the tiredness isn't bothering me as much. I guess maybe part of me has decided to accept tiredness/exhaustion as par for the course for the next umpteen years, and this is my subconscious's way of preparing me for it. Anyway, today after work I stopped by the local organic farm market near work and picked up some in-season veggies (plum tomatoes, a zucchini and a yellow squash), and then I went to the "regular" store and bought organic flour and yeast and cornmeal. I brought all of this home, whipped up a double batch of homemade pizza dough (made with whey from the batch of homemade mozzarella I made last night -- more on that later), and assembled the veggies I'd bought, plus olive oil, fresh basil from the garden, the rest of a roasted red pepper from the jar in the fridge, and, of course, some Parmesan and what remained of the fresh mozz on the pizza dough. My friends, let me tell you -- this pizza was fantastic, if I may say so myself. I even had some sliced veggies left over that wouldn't fit on the pizza crust, so I stuck them in the oven in a crock next to the pizza while it baked, layered with olive oil and cheeses and herbs. So I had an action- and veggie-packed evening!

Yes, you heard me correctly: I made homemade mozzarella cheese last night. It's ridiculously easy to do. Of course, it takes about an hour, plus one gallon of whole milk (and I bought the expensive organic kind for my first experiment, which cost $6.99!) and some cheesemaking supplies (I purchased a kit that makes 40 batches of mozz or ricotta for $25 plus shipping). But that's beside the point. The point is that I made my own cheese! And it was really, really good! And we actually ate all of it!

So yeah, I've been a little manic lately. Not only did I shop and then cook from scratch tonight, I also did a load of laundry and worked on Daddy's afghan. Oh yeah, and I whipped up a homemade batch of dog biscuits in the oven, to boot. This is despite the fact that my dog woke me up with a sort of sneezing/coughing/gagging attack at 5 a.m. in the crate next to my bed, and of course after he recovered he had to go out and pee, and of course by then it was light out, so....you get the picture. Not much sleep for MurkyMama today. But what do I do? I work all day and then play the role of Suburban Homesteader!

This is bound to catch up with me soon. ;-)