From Scratch

Ah, a holiday weekend with no gigs, no appointments, no traveling, and no obligations! I can think of little better. On Saturday, Chris and I decided to make homemade pasta. And by "homemade," I mean completely from scratch. Our noodles turned out ok (there are some things we'd do differently the next time), but it was really fun and the meal itself was delicious. We made pasta al vongole, which is a simple Italian dish of pasta with clams that were steamed in white wine and garlic. Belissima!

So, first you gather your ingredients and recipes and set up your work space:

Then, put the flour into the bowl. We used half regular, bleached flour and half semolina flour. We think that, next time, we'll try to find this special 00 Italian flour that is ultra-fine:

 Then, you form the flour into a little "well" or "nest." Crack a few eggs in there:

 Then, you mix the flour and eggs with your hands, making sure not to add too much flour (in Italian cooking, it's not about precise measurements. It's about doing things until "it looks right."):

 Then, knead that sucker for ten minutes:

 Then, drink wine and knead some more:

Whoa, scary ghosty reflection of the Busch sign!

 Aftering kneading for ten minutes, form the dough into a ball and cover it with a bowl for half an hour:

After half an hour, take the dough out from under the bowl. Separate it into four sections. Roll out and stretch one section at a time:

Then, it you don't have a pasta machine (which we don't), you cut the flattened and stretched-out dough into your noodles. You can make them however you please!

 

Our noodles!

The next step was to prepare the vongoles. We put some olive oil and garlic in a pan, then we added the clams and white wine.

 Meanwhile, chop some parsley. Give the leftovers to the bunny.

Meanwhile meanwhile, drink more wine.

 Then, cook your homemade pasta. Since it's not dried, it doesn't need to cook for too long.

 Pull the clams out of the pan as they open up. We got our seafood from a great local seafood place instead of the regular grocery store. EVERY one of the clams we bought opened (no duds!), which is worth a little extra. We've gotten mussels from Kroger before and had more than half not open (which means you can't eat the little devils).

 Yay! Our noodles all kindsa cooked.

 Then, you add the noodles and the parsley into the pan, and, a little later, you add the clams back in:

 Then, YOU EAT!

Bella! Buon Appetito!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!



Things I Would Have Done by Now if There Were More Hours in a Day

-Learn to Make Jewelry: I spent a Visa gift card I got for Christmas on some jewelry-making supplies (including a torch for soldering. Fire=fun; tell your kids). I set up this little “workshop” in my foyer but only got to work on things a few times. I’d like to think that, if there were more hours in a day, I’d be quite the jeweler by now.

-Write a Book: I love to write. I write poetry, examiner.com articles, articles for Americana Rhythm magazine, (and, now, this super-cool bloggy blog! Ok I don’t know why I said “bloggy blog.” But it’s a-gonna stay there). However, all these things are relatively short and can be knocked out within an afternoon or evening. If there were more hours in a day, I’d like to think that I could write a big ole book. I’m talking a giant-Russian-novel type book.

-Learn Italian: I recently became a duel citizen of the US and Italy…. aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I don’t speak a word of Italian. Well, maybe a word (Grazie!). Shameful, I know. There literally aren’t enough hours in a day for me to take an Italian class or even teach myself! Mama mia! Spaghetti! Vino (Please imagine wildy huge hand gestures here)!

-Become a Better Cook: Wanna know what’s on the TV in the background as I type this? The Food Network (It’s funny, I don’t pay for cable, and, when I got my new TV, all of a sudden I get all these awesome channels!). Why is the Food Network on? Because I love watching talented people cook (ok, fine, and I love to eat). I’m alright at cooking. But, I tend to make the same things over and over. I would love to learn more about what flavors compliment each other. No time!

RYAN’S RECOMMENDATIONS:
Listening: I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers: This is one of the best new albums I’ve listened to in years. It’s deep, emotional, achingly truthful, and just plain sounds good. I highly recommend it.

Reading: I’m still reading Watership Down, but I also regularly read Dooce.com, which is Heather Armstrong’s blog. She makes her living writing it (!). She also describes herself as a “recovered Mormon” and went through a tough time with postpartum depression when she had her first daughter. And she’s just hilarious. Check it out if that sounds interesting to you!

Working Out: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism by Jillian Michaels (ok, so yeah, I love her). This DVD is hard core. There are 7 circuits making the workout a total of 45 minutes or so. I still can’t do all 45 minutes! She incorporates kickboxing, calisthenics, core strength, and jump training all in one workout. It is super intense, and you’ll feel it the next day.