Do you like Mozzarella as I do? :)))
Just a week ago I've found a very good internet shop solding excellent cheese starter! So, I tried to cook _my_ mozzarella:


One package of the starter, 4 l of fresh natural milk... and nothing more! :)))

 

First I dissolve the cheese starter in 15 ml of fresh filtered water. Then - heat up the milk to 40 degrees C and dissolve the sarter in the milk.

 

 

In 40 minutes the milk curl up in a bunch. I carefully cut it into pieces.

Now it's high time to ridd of the serum.  I put the bunch into the colander covered with 2 layers of cheesecloth and let the serum flow down. By the way, this serum is very suitable for the hash!

After the serum flow down, I boil some water and put the bunch into the boiling water. 7 minutes, no longer! 

So, it's almost ready now. I take the cheesecloth with the bunch out of the boilong water and prepare the cold water with salt - the final stage. I make pieces of the bunch and put them into the salt water. In 2 hours the mozzarella is ready!

 

 

Mangup-Kale (part 2)

I was bewitched with this stone wall, that suddenly appeared among the trees.

As I could read on the nameplate, this defending wall was built appriximately in 1503. Later, in the last quater of 1500, it was reconstructed, so, now one can see two layers of masonry.

Having passed the first  line of the defend fortifications, I saw the Karaites cemetry. It occupies the space between the first and the second lines of the fortifications. 

Mangup-Kale (part 1)

Last weekend I traveled to one of the most beautiful and cryptic places of the Western Crimea - the Mangup-Kale Cave Town. I am really impressed!

We started our journey in Khodjy-Sala (Holy Village, turk), a small tatar settlement at the foot of Mangup plateau.

The single street of the village leads to a small man-made lake formed not so long ago, in 1983. Excavations discovered the ruins of medieval basilica surrounded with the remains of the village, but nevertheless the lake was formed, and the valuable archaeological finding appeared under the water. Now, after hot summer season, when the level of the lake drops, the top of the basilica appears above the water.

 The aim of my journey is Mangup plateau on the top of Baba-Dag (Father Mountain, turk). Baba-Dag is 600 m above sea level, and it seemes to be created as a natural fortress: steep slopes slotted by the deep narrow gorges, and generous springs of fresh water on the plateau make this place practically inaccessible for the enemies. Here is the reconstruction drawing of Mangup-Kale made in 2008:

From the foot of Baba-Dag we can see the Leaky Cape (left cape on the picture bellow). This is the final aim of my journey.

Just a "quick" oriental soup

Another soup of the series "We played Korean and Chinese computer games, and then we decided to have a look at what was left in the fridge."

 

 300 grams of chicken hearts, an average piece of ginger root, a large piece of daikon, dried muer mushrooms, soy sauce, salt, sugar.