Pasta from Scratch

In 2001, whilst walking along the cobblestone streets of a lakeside village in northern Italy, founded before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, I came upon a little shop selling kitchen wares. We were preparing to pack up our things and move back to America, and I had debated whether or not to sink $60 into a metal contraption that makes long sheets of lovely yellow pasta. We had been introduced to the process at the home of an old friend in central Italy a few weeks before, and we were all smitten. What could be more quintessentially Italian than mixing eggs and flour on your countertop and rolling it into thin sheets, cutting them into ribbons, cooking them briefly in boiling water and consuming them an hour later with an amazing bolognese sauce?

My family is so intrigued with doing this, that my two sons have been known to secretly pack my pasta machine into their backpacks, take it to college and make fettucine for their friends! There must be something magical about it, don't you think?

So tonight, I take the girls down this well-worn path in my kitchen and show them the secrets to pasta fresca. One mustn't be too squeamish about touching raw eggs. There's lots of touching of raw eggs. Mound up several cups of flour and crack four or five eggs in the well. Then mix it with your hands. It's messy. But, oh so fun.

Menu: Homemade Fettucine with Bolognese Sauce
Greek Salad
Crusty Bread

Sometimes, it just doesn't seem like ten years ago that we lived abroad. Too long. It's time to go back. What a ten years it's been. I am always so grateful for the opportunities I've had along the way to experience life on different levels. There were wonderful things about living in Italy, but there were also inconveniences, difficulties, and of course, a lot of loneliness being away from home. But those years spent in foreign lands have certainly shaped me, and helped me to create the kind of home environment I love, and want to share with others. Turning on a little Andrea Bocelli, opening a bottle of Sangiovese, and cranking the handle of the pasta machine creates a relaxed and warm kitchen, full of rich memories to be shared.