Fancy some feta? This briny, crumbly, aged cheese is ranked up there with baklava and moussaka. The Greeks did it right.

If you've followed this blog from the beginning, many of the cheeses were basic and great for cheesemaking-newbs. Now with these beginner cheeses up your sleeve, it's time to risk it all...with this not-so-hard DIY feta recipe. The most difficult part of this cheese? Waiting for it to be ready! Plan a week ahead. A week is all you need.

HOMEMADE FETA

It probably goes without saying, but bacon goes well with everything—especially cheese.

As promised, here’s cheese accompaniments part deux. This entry features a savory spread to give your crusty bread and cheese some spiciness and sweetness.

TOMATO BACON CHUTNEY

Blogger Rachael Hutchings of La Fuji Mama loves culture with a capital L-O-V-E, so she was enthusiastic when I asked her about using this delish chutney recipe. You can enjoy any cheese with this bacon chutney, but Rachael strongly recommends smoked goat cheddar—“Something that is creamy with a bit of tang to compliment the acidity of the tomatoes and smokiness of the bacon! It can be eaten on bread, with crackers, on a baked potato, or even to take a hot dog up a notch.”

Makes 3 ½ cups

Bread, cheese and wine—could there be any other perfect trinity for relaxing after work and rendezvousing with friends?

This DIY series is meandering a little off the beaten path and spotlighting cheese accompaniments, beginning with warm, wholesome, crusty bread.

But instead of fantasizing about munching on bread and cheese with a tall glass of wine, people tend to take on the frightened façade of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” when they hear “bread baking.” Yeast just has that effect on even the bravest little baker. Maybe it’s that scene from I Love Lucy we can’t get out of our heads, the one where our beloved and kooky red-haired heroine keeps adding flour to a ball of dough, and after baking it in the oven, out pops a ballpark-long sub.

Of all things cheese-related, almost everyone loves to hate cottage cheese. I admit, I was a part of the cottage cheese-hating fan club—and why? What did cottage cheese ever do to me?

Was it the lunch snack mix-up in grade school, when I mistook cottage cheese for rice pudding?

Was it my arachnophobia and the Miss Muffet nursery rhyme convincing me cottage cheese (i.e. curds and whey) must be a spider sentinel?

Or is it because I just fell in with the same boat as everybody else, the “wrinkle your nose without giving ‘ol cottage cheese a chance” cruise line?

Whatever my qualms were, they disappeared once I gave cottage cheese the college try. (Really—it took me until college to try!) Since then, I haven’t gone back.

With the popularity of frozen yogurt, Green yogurt, kefir and anything else wonderfully tart, you should give cottage cheese another chance as well. Trust me on this.

Two thoughts have crossed my mind since our recent New England blizzard passed through:

1. I undeniably, unquestionably, irrevocably detest snow (my years in Florida have spoiled me).
2. In its purest state—before time takes its toll—snow reminds me of cream cheese.

Curling up with hot cocoa and some crackers or a toasted bagel with a tart, creamy spread by a warm fire (or apartment radiator) and a good book—or movie*—is the perfect way to spend your time if you’re snowed-in. At least, that was my weekend.

And for DIY cream cheese all you need are three ingredients—THREE ingredients! Are you sold on this idea yet? And imagine the possibilities for other recipes: carrot cake frosting; a cheesecake base; cheesecake ice cream…In case you haven’t guessed I’m a sugar-holic.

DIY CREAM CHEESE