Kaasmaken, klompengolf, en TanteLoes
(Translated: Cheese making, wooden shoe golf, and Tante Loes)
15 July 2006
In a very nice summer weather, last Saturday we went to 'De BoerInn', a recreational farm house in Woerden, a small city near Utrecht in the middle of the country. We arrived at Woerden around 10 in the morning and drove through nice green landscape of Holland before reaching De BoerInn. The old farm house was located in a polder surrounded by small dikes.
De BoerInn offers some interesting summer activities that have connection with farm life: Polder competition, polder tour, indoor polder sport, polder challenge, klompen (wooden shoes) golf, and cheese making.
Because there were only 8 of us and some activities require minimum 10 participants, we decided to do the cheese making and the klompen golf.
The cheese making activity was started around 11. We entered a small room and being welcomed by the farm lady herself. She was ready with a big bowl containing 10 liters fresh milk that would be used to make the cheese. During about one hour with her, she explained the process of turning the milk into cheese from the very beginning as well as interesting information about storing cheese, different kinds of cheese available, the difference between farm cheese and factory cheese, and possible side products from the cheese making process.
Naturally, during the same one hour we were also being involved in the process. We stirred the milk to separate the solid from the liquid until we had a nice white soft curd similar to tofu in texture. After that, one of us moved the curd to the cheese mold. The mold then placed under the pressing block to force the remaining liquid out from the curd.
In general those were the steps, and after that the curd would be salted and packaged. We could taste the difference between the curd with the finish cheese in terms of saltiness.
Pressing the cheese
In the end of the activity, we could pick one cheese block for free and we chose the young natural one. Some of us also bought another block for 7.5 Euro, my wife picked the one with Italian herbs. The free one was cut by the lady and was served to us for our lunch, yummy.
After a nice lunch, with the nice cheese, we went to the backside of the farm house to play the klompen golf. The golf field was a block of polder with a narrow dike in the middle and some cows that grazing on the field. Before started the real thing, we got explanation about the techniques and rules. The golf club was a wooden stick with a klompen-shaped head and the ball was about the half size of a volleyball. The rule was the same as the normal golf, we needed to finish 18 holes with minimum stroke. We could practice the swing and chose the best club before start.
The real game was really fun. We got variety of holes anatomy: easy long ones, some with bunkers and hills, few with waters in the middle, and majority with cows (and their residues) around. I hit one of the poor cow that blocked my shot. We finished the 18 holes in about 2 hours and the best of us got a winning yellow shirt.
Klompengolf...hit the cows :)
We spent the hole 19 (I've told you, it was pretty same with the normal golf) drinking at the farm house. Some of us preferred to take a shower for refreshment toward the dinner (yeah, sure, there must be a nice dinner in our activities). Unfortunately two of us could not join the dinner, so there were six of us who drove to Rhenen, a small town besides the river Rhine. The trip itself took about an hour via the highway near Utrecht and passing part of the green Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
The restaurant was called TanteLoes, a nice white building directly on the side of the Rhine. We got a table at the back terrace facing the river, a beautiful view with the church tower in afar. The food selection was quite fine, although not really special. I ordered onion soup for appetizer and a nice thick tender tournedos as the main course. Had no more appetite for dessert, I just ordered a cup of coffee meanwhile the rest were having more proper dessert :).
TanteLoes
After dinner we shortly visited the riverside and afterward we drove back. Me and my wife were dropped at Utrecht and we took the train back to Eindhoven. It was a nice day.
15 July 2006
In a very nice summer weather, last Saturday we went to 'De BoerInn', a recreational farm house in Woerden, a small city near Utrecht in the middle of the country. We arrived at Woerden around 10 in the morning and drove through nice green landscape of Holland before reaching De BoerInn. The old farm house was located in a polder surrounded by small dikes.
De BoerInn offers some interesting summer activities that have connection with farm life: Polder competition, polder tour, indoor polder sport, polder challenge, klompen (wooden shoes) golf, and cheese making.
Because there were only 8 of us and some activities require minimum 10 participants, we decided to do the cheese making and the klompen golf.
The cheese making activity was started around 11. We entered a small room and being welcomed by the farm lady herself. She was ready with a big bowl containing 10 liters fresh milk that would be used to make the cheese. During about one hour with her, she explained the process of turning the milk into cheese from the very beginning as well as interesting information about storing cheese, different kinds of cheese available, the difference between farm cheese and factory cheese, and possible side products from the cheese making process.
Naturally, during the same one hour we were also being involved in the process. We stirred the milk to separate the solid from the liquid until we had a nice white soft curd similar to tofu in texture. After that, one of us moved the curd to the cheese mold. The mold then placed under the pressing block to force the remaining liquid out from the curd.
In general those were the steps, and after that the curd would be salted and packaged. We could taste the difference between the curd with the finish cheese in terms of saltiness.
Pressing the cheeseIn the end of the activity, we could pick one cheese block for free and we chose the young natural one. Some of us also bought another block for 7.5 Euro, my wife picked the one with Italian herbs. The free one was cut by the lady and was served to us for our lunch, yummy.
After a nice lunch, with the nice cheese, we went to the backside of the farm house to play the klompen golf. The golf field was a block of polder with a narrow dike in the middle and some cows that grazing on the field. Before started the real thing, we got explanation about the techniques and rules. The golf club was a wooden stick with a klompen-shaped head and the ball was about the half size of a volleyball. The rule was the same as the normal golf, we needed to finish 18 holes with minimum stroke. We could practice the swing and chose the best club before start.
The real game was really fun. We got variety of holes anatomy: easy long ones, some with bunkers and hills, few with waters in the middle, and majority with cows (and their residues) around. I hit one of the poor cow that blocked my shot. We finished the 18 holes in about 2 hours and the best of us got a winning yellow shirt.
Klompengolf...hit the cows :)We spent the hole 19 (I've told you, it was pretty same with the normal golf) drinking at the farm house. Some of us preferred to take a shower for refreshment toward the dinner (yeah, sure, there must be a nice dinner in our activities). Unfortunately two of us could not join the dinner, so there were six of us who drove to Rhenen, a small town besides the river Rhine. The trip itself took about an hour via the highway near Utrecht and passing part of the green Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
The restaurant was called TanteLoes, a nice white building directly on the side of the Rhine. We got a table at the back terrace facing the river, a beautiful view with the church tower in afar. The food selection was quite fine, although not really special. I ordered onion soup for appetizer and a nice thick tender tournedos as the main course. Had no more appetite for dessert, I just ordered a cup of coffee meanwhile the rest were having more proper dessert :).
TanteLoes After dinner we shortly visited the riverside and afterward we drove back. Me and my wife were dropped at Utrecht and we took the train back to Eindhoven. It was a nice day.
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