Do you know about the 'other'?

What 'other' am I referring too? It could be the other uses of homemade cheese, besides slicing and eating. (Hint: please read to the end for the real other,)

In my last post I shared a recipe for cheese that I'd made at least six times, always with perfect results. Then late one night I made it to have for the next day, and it didn't work. I don't know exactly what I did wrong, though I suspect I added too much liquid, and it never solidified. I even attempted to cook and add more agar agar, to no avail. It tasted exactly right, but had the consistency of a dip. I didn't want a big tub of dip, but I hate to waste food. Too bad it's not a ruined cake recipe, I thought, so I could turn it into cake balls.

No problem, though, I turned a large share of the unwanted dip into delicious mac 'n cheese with cherry tomatoes. I had been planning to try this with the solid cheese, but that will have to wait until I make the cheese again. But, no, this other use for the cheese is not the other from the title.

With another portion of cheese dip, I made a rich and cheesy stew. First I soaked and cooked lima beans. Then I cooked potato, carrot and broccoli chunks in a small amount of water until they were tender.

When the veggies were tender, I added in the lima beans and their cooking liquid, some diy gravy mix, and the cheese dip. I loved eating the result., but this is not the other I'm talking about.

THIS is it. It's the 'other' folder next to your message folder on facebook. Have you ever opened it? I'd heard of it, but had never noticed it particularly until recently, when, in conjunction with an activity related to my upcoming high school reunion, I sent a message to a fellow classmate on facebook. Facebook informed me that because we weren't friends, the message would go to her 'other' folder. OK. I sent the message, wondering if she would ever see it.

Curious about the mysterious other folder, I looked at my own fb message folder, and clicked on the greyed-out 'other'. It opened to reveal a long list of messages I never knew were there. The first few messages looked kind of sketchy — the first was from someone named 'Ronnie' with a last name I didn't recognize, and began with, "You look fabulous. Send me your recipe. I'm living in Tampa..." You can only see the first sentence or two, and I didn't open any of the personal messages, because they looked weird, and I had a bunch of other stuff to do. However, seeing the name Ronnie sparked a quick Internet and fb search for an old, dear friend named Ronnie who had been a close friend long ago, and with whom I'd lost touch as we each moved so many times. When I couldn't find her, I searched for her ex, hoping it would lead me to her, and learned he had died two years ago — a discovery that made me very sad. I'd looked for her unsuccessfully many times in the past, so wasn't surprised that nothing had turned up.

Anyway, having discovered my other folder, I asked my husband to check his. He found a message from someone we knew in Madison, asking when we had moved, and how we were doing. The message was two years old, but Ken immediately wrote back and we are now reconnected through fb. After I saw the real message in my husband's folder, I returned to my other folder, and this time I opened the message from Ronnie. OMG is the only appropriate expression to describe my reaction. The message was dated Jan. 2014, and was from my friend! She had remarried and was using the last name of her second husband, which is why I didn't recognize it. We are now back in touch.

There were lots of real messages in the other folder, reminding me of bake sales, workshops, political events and other assorted activities, but the message from Ronnie was a stunner. Over the past few days I've asked lots of people if they've ever looked in their other folder (I think you have to be on a computer rather than a phone or tablet, to see it) and they all said no. Have you?