PASTA PASTA PASTA PASTA

Well - a couple of times a year - on a lazy day like today - we make pasta. The deal was - YEARS AGO - that David would be involved in this. So he is. Here are Ingrid and David rolling out the dough after it has been made, kneeded and rested a bit.
Then after it is rolled into sheets - it has to dry for about an hour. This is no meal for the impatient!

Meanwhile - Gretchen to the rescue - I make the filling. Tonight it will be tri-cheese with vegetables. The cheeses are true Italian Gargonzola (a MUST), Belgiorno Parmesan (Loredana will have my &$$ for not using Riggiano), and good ole american ricotta! Then I added sizzled carrots and shallot, and diced roasted red pepper. We've come up with this over the years after having Vege Ravioli at a favorite Italian restaurant (now defunct of course) while we were dating.

Finally the moment of truth is here. The sheets are placed in an archaic "mold", pressed for pocket to fill, filled, wet a tad to promote sticking, and the 2nd layer of pasta put on top.

A quick roll of the pin, and voila - Mortono Ravioli!

This batch yielded approximately 56 pockets (not all are shown here!) from 5 of our home-grown chicken eggs and about 2-1/2 cups of flour!

Let me have it Lore - what can we improve?

Other Late 2008 News

Here is Ingrid. She has mastered basic knitting and is moving on to fitted garments. Here she is working on a pair of gauntlets (fingerless mittens) for a friend. Ribbing is tough, and the thumb still takes a bit of Mommy-aid! That is fine with me. It is awesome to see the concentration, stick-to-itiveness, and pride in a project completed.




The chickens are doing great. Everyone keeps asking about them. They have NO heat, the water container has a heated base that keeps the water JUST above freezing, they continue to lay and we get 3-4 eggs a day (when Turkey isn't brooding - which she is now for the 3rd time). Here is David last week shoveling off their roof. The coop, after all, wasn't designed for a full snow load! NOTE EXASPERATION on my part here!!






David spent a goodly part of yesterday and Sunday working on this great shelf. It resides in teh basement stairwell. It relieves a lot of congestion in the pantry from my canned fruits, jellys, veggies and relishes.. YUM. OH - and there is room left over (for now) for Chef Boyardee and Campbells! A friend is going to start finishing the basement shortly. We are excited for more space for the kids and their friends. Bring on the carpenters!





Normie sent the girls clock kits. Using some cool softward and color printer, David was able to make unique clock faces for them. Here is Grace with, you guessed it, a doggie. Ingrid's has a more teenage theme - the Bengal Tiger - the mascot of Tamarac Elementary/Hi!






Santa, for once, really really came thru for Grace. She specifically requested pom-pom animals. SOMEHOW, Santa found a kit with SIX of them. Mommy burned her finger but good with hot glue yesterday on Mr. Monkey. Today was much less riskier - and no blood was shed creating the bear and the lion. Only 3 more to go!

THANKS for SUPER Presents!

Thanks to everyone for the magnificent gifts.
My friend Heather made me these truly AWESOME quilled snowflakes. They'll adorn my dining room chandelier for many a winter to come.








Grace got this new dog from Normie. Her name is SILKIE.

Here is Ingrid in a fancy gold dress I made LAST YEAR. She finally christened it on X-mas eve with these SMASHING purple shoes from Aunt Sugar. Imagine - PURPLE shoes!

My brother Richard cruised in Scandinavia last year. He got these awesome hats in Norway. We are ready for Nordic Bliss - BRING ON THE SNOW!

A Christmas Wonderland

Well - a great blizzard has hit the Northeast - and a goodly part of the rest of the country too I've heard. We're positively GLEEFUL here! We just got back from a nice late evening (9pm) walk to the mailbox to post a letter to New Jersey! We have about 9" since noon, and it is 12 degrees! Whoopie. Can't wait to ski tomorrow!
David finished up work today until 2009! Yes, that's right - not laid off, no furlough, just vacation until January 5th. Here he is giving praise to Allah - - - and drying his pants from working out in the snow. HE HE HE!! He put the plow on the truck after work for the first time this season! We'll need it tomorrow to clear things out! It's kind of a wet and messy job after snow is already on the ground.

Last night was the Winter Concert at school. All of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Graders (about 270 in all) were great. Grace sang, Ingrid sang, and also had her flute debut with the band. About 60 of the 5th Graders are in the band - and doing a great job of learning their new instruments. Grace is in the back row directly under the right-most overhung star. Ingrid is 3rd from the FAR right in the back row.

I FINALLY finished making their sweaters - my first for them. I started them in April. Thanks to Lore for inspiring me to try lace (Grace's) and a sweater-in-the-round for Ingrid (it's truly a giant circle with sleeves). They love them and I'm so grateful for that.....they'll actually wear them! Here they are before we left for the concert in the new sweaters and Christmas skirts.

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LOOK what we found

OMG: This was all over the front yard.... We're not sure waht it is. BIG Dog, Bobcat, Bear... What do you think? This is a 6" steel rule. Definately big toe nails. We're looking thru the Mammal Book....

Bobcat = 2" accross. Hmmmm...
Coyote = 2" accross, with toes... ummmm
Gray Wolf = 4" accross
Couger - 4" accross, but doesn't look quite right...

OMG: This was all over the front yard.... We're not sure waht it is. BIG Dog, Bobcat, Bear... What do you think?

Ice Storm

And so - finally I am updating the BLOG. We have our first SNOW DAY of the year! The girls are having a blast with Emma! THey are teaching her all there is to know about sledding! It is a bit wet - we had 1/2" of ice last night - so the trees are taking a beating... More later, I need to load some Halloween and stuff from the Fall.