Hi from Brisbane, Australia

[halminator]

Thought I'd better introduce myself instead of just lurking around the various boards.

My lovely better half bought me a cheesemaking kit as a birthday present last month and I'm loving it. So far I have 4 Camemberts that have developed a nice white coating and have just been wrapped as well as 5 blues that are sitting in my cave.

I'm fearing the cam's (my kids have named them Cameron and Bert) which were my first attempt at cheese making will be a bit average as I didn't stack the curds up too high. Not knowing how much they would shrink in the hoops I got a little scared and shared the curds across 5 hoops instead of loading up four hoops as the recipe suggested. I also noticed that one or too of them had a little vibrant lime green colour to them which I'm not too sure about, but I guess I will find out about soon when they are unwrapped. Nevermind, it's all part of the learning process.

The blue's on the other hand are looking great! They all have a nice covering of blue over them at the moment and have just been pierced with the end of my stainless steel thermometer. I wasn't sure on how many holes I should go for or if I should go in from the sides or from the top. So in the end I did one from the side, one from the top, and one on the sides and on top to see the difference I would get between the three.

The information that I've been able to obtain so far from searching around the various boards has been invaluable. I just need to find the time to try out new recipes and flavours in my cheese journey. Next on the list is a brie and then I'll be looking at getting into some pressed cheeses.

Hal.

[Gina]

Welcome, Hal. I'm on the opposite side of the earth, but the cheese-making obsession is the same regardless of the hemisphere.

[Cheese Head]

Welcome Hal, great to hear so many cheeses already and that this forum has been so helpful, the synergy of the Internet.

Brisbane is a beautiful city, my family took a holiday there and at Gold Coast around 2000 when I used to work in Brunei, reminded me of my home town of Vancouver, hope you still have the kids science museum downtown in the multistory old building, was great.

PS, cute avatar!

[Chris K]

Welcome Hal!