This post is so long coming, that it’s actually ridiculous how long ago this all happened but discovering the pictures of such a lovely day I had back in November. That’s right November. Last Year. Bad Blogger.
For my birthday my lovely parents got me a voucher to go on a glass-making course at Bath Aqua Glass. As well as loving food and travelling I like to turn my hand at various crafts too. In the past I’ve done wood craving (twice and with varying degrees of success), enamelling and silver jewellery making, so was excited to work with glass for the first time. Best of all I was doing it with my Mum, who currently is turning her hand to about 6 different forms of craft activities. We had a girl weekend, donned our boots and least flammable clothing and headed off to the furnace.
We spent some time learning how to gather the glass from the furnace, funnily off it was a tad hot next to it but was really fascinating how someone worked out the process thousands of years ago and learnt the nuisances to get the desired end results. We learnt how to shape and colour and work the glass to create our paperweights. I went for one that had flecks of white, lilac and purple flower in the centre with air bubbles at the end of each petal.
With all of modern technology and materials, the best tool to form and shape our glass was a soaked pad of newspaper. I was a tad dubious that it wouldn’t bun up but was very satisfying to see the weight take shape.
Our weights had to cool down in slow steps in a kiln so it doesn’t crack or fracture. So once they had cooled they were sent to us a week later and was really pleased with our efforts. Check out Spam’s below, it looks like a piece of coral reef.
Mine was more oval and a twisted flower in the centre with plenty of bubbles. I was so pleased with the results and had such a great time learning some of the techniques of glass making and really fancy trying my hand at more in the future.
After all that hot work we needed fuel to hit the shops and within walking distance from Bath Aqua Glass is The Fine Cheese Company. With the rows and domes of sweet treats that lured us in then greeted with the most amazing site of a gorgeous wall of cheeses.
All the crackers, biscuits and chutneys you could want to pair with all the different types of cheeses.
We nestled into the cafe and poured over the menus of treats to pick from.
When one decision is tough, go with two of the boards, of course, cheese and charcuterie. They put together for us a platter of three kinds of cheese that were a nice selection on the day. We had Bocconcino Langa, a light Italian goats cheese, mild and creamy but came alive paired with the chutneys, a Pecorino Rosso Italian sheep’s milk cheese, a firmer cheese where the rind is rubbed with tomato paste to give it a red hue and slight fruity note. But for us the utter star of the plate for use was the Noccolo made with a blend of cow, sheep and goat milk, an incredible cheese with the texture of whipped cream, just sublime slathered on The Fine Cheese Co’s own crackers, Toast for Cheese – Apricots, Pistachios and Sunflower Seeds, fruity and chewy and just a dream with the Noccolo cheese. We stocked up on both in the shop to take home.
The charcuterie board was all sorts of special, hearty slices of Parma style hams, Hungarian salamis, chorizo and mortadella, ready to be piled high on the warm hunks of bread. I may have gone a little bit cavewoman on this board….
As ever I had such a wonderful time with my mum and we have a lovely memento of the day in the form of our paperweights. Was just a great activity to do and not the every day mother-daughter bonding but we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in. Fabulous.
Address Book
The Fine Cheese Company
29-31 Walcot St, Bath BA1 5BN
Tel: 01225 448748
Website: http://www.finecheeseshops.co.uk
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