fivebyevif

The next time I say, “I think I’ll hand-knead, roll, and stuff 80 tortellini!” — eh, you know I love it.

And a test boil tells me that it’s pretty tasty stuff. For my second try at rolling out pasta, I think this Midwest hippy from California with zero Italian heritage did a pretty good job. Also, doing all this tonight, the day before it’ll be eaten, when it doesn’t matter that it took me three freakin’ hours to get through it all? Stroke of genius!

I’ve been reading Heat by Bill Buford, which is all about Italian food and how awesome the authentic stuff is (not that the author thinks that Italian-American food can’t be awesome, it’s just not the same kind of awesome). Buford is making me want that super good food, but short of going to Northern Italy (or New York, I suppose), it’s just not gonna happen unless I take matters into my own hands.

So into my hands go a zillion leetle pastas with a mixture of butternut squash, sweet potato, and Parmesan, and a rack of pork stuffed with pancetta and parsley, and bright golden cornmeal that will be transformed into a mess of polenta. I am hoping the family likes it, though if they do I suspect that next time I’ll go looking for fresh egg pasta sheets and do the tortellini that way (alternately: wonton wrappers, but I don’t know if those come with eggs).

Hey, I hope your holidays have been fun. I go back to work Friday, and I’m feeling pretty good about that. Lots to get done. Lots to look forward to.

Time to sleep. For tomorrow…I cook!