Robert Uhl

The more you play, the better you’ll get; it’s simple, but it’s also true. The way it’s worked for me is that I’ve hit a series of plateaux: I’ll improve radically in a day or two, and then I’ll be stuck at the same level for a month or two, and then I’ll improve radically again, and the cycle will repeat itself.

Keep playing, and you’ll continue to improve. Don’t neglect the basics: start every day’s session with some scales, and keep on pushing the envelope. If you’re playing open chords, try for barre chords; if you’re playing at one end of the neck, move in the other direction; if you’re playing chords, try single notes; if you’re playing single notes, try finger picking.

Just keep on playing, and keep on challenging yourself—the day will come when you sound good.

Soapmaking is really easy, and exceedingly cheap. You can make soap of a far better quality than the storebought stuff at home, and with very little effort.

A year or so ago, I amazed my kid brother with how quickly I could make soap (less than 10 minutes for a batch sufficient to last almost a year). It’s really that easy: blend oils with lye-water, pour into molds and get on with life.

It boggles my mind that anyone actually pays for the stuff…

Well, I made my first batch of cheese with the New England Cheesemaking hard cheese kit & instructions. To be honest, the equipment is not quite enough: a follower (or second mold to use as a follower) would be much appreciated. But still, I have cheese, and in a month or two I’ll be eating it.

My thoughts on the process:

• it’s really not that difficult, although compared to brewing it seems to be a lot of work (that’s probably an illusion, since I’m used to the work of brewing)

• the process is pretty simple: take milk (or milk + cream, in my case), add bacteria, let sit for a bit, add rennet, let sit a bit longer, cut the gelled milk into curds, let sit longer (and in my case, add heat), then strain the curds & press

• there’s no really noticeable odour from the milk & cultures—at least none which permeates the room

• the hardest thing is the waiting period: a beer is drinkable within a week and good within a month, while a cheese matures for much longer. This is no doubt manageable the same way I manage beer: making enough to be eating one, aging several and making a replacement at any one time.

• a good mold, follower & press are vital

Towards that last point, I’ve purchased one of the Schmidling Cheesypresses. It arrived today and looks like it’ll work very well. We’ll see next weekend!

An excellent resource for cheesemaking is Dr. David Fankhauser’s Cheese Page. The good doctor has a whole series of photos, recipes, articles and so forth ready for anyone to read. I hope to be using his approach in my next cheese.