quesopathy...

       so i've been on this weird homemade kick. i started making my own bread a little over a year ago to save a few pennies and up the healthiness level. took me a while to really get started with it, but i haven't purchased a loaf of bread in about eight months now. then this semester i started making my own jams. it's not really saving any money to do that (about the same price unless i'm able to pick the berries out of our garden, but i usually just buy them frozen), but it is fun and this way i also know exactly what goes in my jam. now i'm about to add another staple to my list of homemade products and i'm a little nervous about it, but it will be awesome if it turns out: i'm making cheese. i'm starting out with a basic hard white cheese that will be similar in taste to mozzarella but about the texture of a cheddar. i know i'm a nerd, but i'm really excited. i have all the stuff i need except for the rennet enzymes that should arrive near the end of this week or the beginning of next, but even after i make it it'll take about two weeks before it will be ready to eat. the cost is also about the same, maybe a little cheaper -- it takes a gallon of milk to make a pound of cheese, but you also need a little plain yogurt (for the bacterial cultures) and then the rennet enzymes (which are super-cheap -- these "digest" the protein and form the curds). anyway, it doesn't look terribly difficult, especially if you know your way around a kitchen, so if anyone wants to try it out, click here for the recipes and methods i'm using. i remember you guys in japan saying that you miss cheese, so if you're feeling ambitious you should give it a try.

       walked to wally world tonight. i stole a shopping cart again, but i didn't get very far before i decided i was being bad. so i carried the 30+ pounds of groceries the two miles (uphill!)back to the house. hey, it's hard work for a fat boy. but i needed a few raw materials for the cheese and parts for the cheese press along with a few other randoms. one of the things i needed for the press is a large rubber band, so i killed two birds with one stone and bought a few of those exercise resistance tubes. now i can make cheese and restart that p90x workout thing. good workout. i need to do it, too. i still need to get one of those pull up bars that goes in the door frame. pull-ups on the door itself are a bit scary. yes, i tried it. thank goodness for metal door frames, but i'm sure you can imagine me trying to do a pull-up on a door while it's swinging back and forth. heh. tears up the hands, too.

       it was good to see everyone back at home. well, everyone that i saw. didn't see many. but it was very nice to be home, to be with family and open presents and relax. got to see brandon the other day. i'd link to his xanga but he shut it down a few years ago. i've missed him quite a bit, so it was really good to have some one-on-one time with him. we went to the mall and i spent $20 on lotions and hand-soap, but it's good stuff and my poor cracked hands need it. and if you laugh you'll feel how soft they are now when i'm punching you in the face. but he bought me an orange julius and we sat in the food court and got all caught up and watched people go by. except my life is so uninteresting that he had to carry most of the conversation. even on here i talk about cheese and going to wal-mart. it's no wonder people get bored with me.

        currently trying to figure out why i always screw up relationships. never fails. i'm becoming exceedingly efficient at it. if my face isn't scary enough, don't worry i'm also psychotic.