Hi Tea,
Yes, I am of the female persuasion (lol). After ditching the wooden spoons (I guess they carry germs better than I thought) and boiling all my stainless steel utensils for 25 minutes in the 3 gallon cheese pot and allowing them to cool, I tried a monterey jack cheese yesterday. Also, made a wee bit of ricotta from the whey (it was just a 1 lb. (1 gallon) round of jack -- so not alot of whey.) After pressing for 12 hours I unmolded it early today and it looks good. Smells nice too. It is sitting on a cheese mat and plate on my kitchen counter with cheese cloth over it, drying for the next 1-3 days -- I've been turning it every few hours in hopes of it drying evenly. Then, I think I will bandage this cheese after it is dry and pop it into my cheese cave (aka used small fridge with temp gauge set at 55F. ) I'm wondering if I should place the cheese in a tupperware container (or something like that) as well, before placing in my cheese cave. I am having some problems with blue/green mold on cheeses in the cheese cave, too. I tried washing it out with the weak bleach solution, it smells better now but still kind'a funky. Any tips on what to use to clean out the cheese cave?
As for quilting, right now I am working on an Amish wall hanging for our quilt guild's show and challenge in March, 2009.