misc.

[kaberett]

Item the first: I am absolutely become, apparently, the kind of person who gets Mildly Cross about not taking cheesecloth with them when they travel for more than about a week. (I'm still not buying the 10m roll.)

Item the second: this means I'm using up some of the milk-as-needs-used in a slightly experimental loaf of sourdough, instead of just turning it into paneer for dinner. (This has the bonus that I don't need to get my act together when A is actually in the house; the sourdough's generally happy with filtered water than with mains water, as recently mentioned, and while we have a filter jug at home out here we've only got A's filter-as-it-goes-along water bottle.)

Item the third: I was most of the way through mixing this up before I remembered I'm not supposed to eat calcium at breakfast.

OH WELL.

Comments

[hydrangea]

You're very good for not buying 10m of cheese cloth. I just bought 69m of piano wire. I'm not good. >.>

[wohali]

Ooh, I need a short length of piano wire in the future. To actually repair a piano. If you are looking to sell some at some point...and if it's the right gauge, shoot me a private message. ;)

[el_staplador]

Which recipe do you use for paneer?

[kaberett]

1. take An Milk (on the turn is fine) and put in A Saucepan (hetero milk doesn't seem to work as well; homo milk is ideal for the purpose)
2. bring to just-below-the-boil
3. chuck in juice of at least half a lemon (or some other acid if you prefer) and give the whole thing a stir
4. when it looks like it's properly curdling (this shouldn't take very long) remove pan from heat and Continue Stirring
5. once the curds have separated properly from the whey (again, this shouldn't take very long), tip the whole lot into some cheesecloth (I usually do this by lining a colander or sieve with the cheesecloth, with the straining device over a larger bowl)
6. tie up the cheesecloth and hang it from a hook (above said bowl) and leave it for an hour or so to drain
7. remove from hook, wrap the cheesecloth a little more firmly, and press the cheese under something heavy for another hour or so; it will then be ready to use

the acid whey is apparently good for feeding tomatoes and is definitely good for using as the liquid to make dahl or soup!

[el_staplador]

Brilliant - thank you! There is currently rather more milk at home than is going to get drunk...

[sporky_rat]

How much on the turn is okay?

And how much An Milk? Liter ish?

[kaberett]

"I wouldn't put this in tea but I'd probably still try to get away with making a roux with it", approximately?

And anything less than ~a litre is going to end you up with a really tiny amount of cheese, but that's why the gods invented freezers. for your collection of on-the-turn milk. until you have enough to make cheese with. >_>

[sporky_rat]

Excellent to know, thank you.

[halojedha]

What's the deal with calcium at breakfast?

I know I should take my iron supplements in the morning and my calcium supplements separately and later in the day, but I didn't realise there might be a separate reason to not have calcium at the start of the day other than that clash.

[kaberett]

Short version: calcium inhibits levothyroxine absorption, so one oughtn't to take it within 4 hours of taking the thyroxine, because that way your thyroxine dose has a chance to get properly digested. Mayo Clinic; a miscellaneous academic paper; BNF.

(Note that iron is also In Theory supposed to be taken with a significant buffer between it & thyroxine -- HOWEVER GIVEN that you're stable with your current dose regime it is Probably Wise to Not Alter That & also to flag it up to whoever's in charge of your endocrine care at the moment.)

I'm increasingly contemplating solving this problem by taking thyroxine at night, instead; I *try* to have dinner early enough that it ought to be fine if I take it last thing, given that that seems to work just fine...