little woman

One of our wedding gifts was a pasta machine. Tonight we took our first stab at fresh pasta and it was a huge success! I don’t think I will ever go back.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour

6 regular cage free organic eggs

Process

Mound flour on a clean surface. Have plenty of work space. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack all your eggs inside.

Whisk the eggs in the middle and then incorporate the flour into the eggs. The dough should be sticky and elastic. Knead the dough for about 4 minutes.

Wrap in plastic and let sit for 15 minutes. After it rests, cut into 1/3s.

Take one section and wrap the rest back up in the plastic. It is important the dough never get too dry through this entire process. Take your first section and put it through the pasta roller on the highest/widest/thickest setting (7 on mine).

Then fold it into 1/3s onto itself… like a letter.

Put the folded section through the pasta roller again, still on the widest setting. Continue to do this 6 or 7 times. Should the dough become sticky, sprinkle with flour. After 6 or 7 times, the dough should remain elastic and smooth. Set this aside and cover it with a dish towel while you do the same to the other 2 sections.

After all 3 sections of the dough are finished, take the first section you completed and put it through the roller again on one setting smaller (6). Continue putting it through the roller each time turning down a setting by one (5, 4, 3) until you get to the next to last setting (2). This section will be come extremely long.

At this point we cut this long piece in half. Set this section aside and cover with a dish towel. Do the same to the other 2 sections. We ended up layering sections of pasta and a dish towel to make sure it didn’t dry out. After all 3 sections have been rolled down to the next to last setting, let them all sit for about 10 minutes.

After they rest, take your first section and put it through the pasta cutter of your choice. We chose the linguine because the thicker strands might hold up best for our first attempt. We didn’t find this process to be a one-person job, but especially this part.

As your cut pasta comes out, lay it out on the dish towels again (or a spiffy pasta drying wrack if you have one… or coat hangers). Cut all sections and lay out to dry for 15 minutes.

Then you are ready to cook! We boiled half and put half in a plastic bag to freeze for later. It supposedly lasts for 6 months frozen. Don’t forget to put the date!

I wasn’t sure if it would, but, like homemade gnocchi, the pasta floated to the top when it was finished. Don’t walk away. It won’t need to cook longer than 5 minutes. I stuck around and continued to stir lightly. I was afraid it might congeal in a ball if I didn’t.

When I drained the pasta in the colander, I immediately ran some cold water on it to stop the cooking. Voilà! I tossed in some basil from the garden, tiny mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, 4 or 5 chopped garlic cloves, and salt & black pepper. I can’t wait to make this meal again with homemade mozzarella and tomatoes and garlic from the garden!

Very tasty first attempt!

Today was the ol’ birthday. I originally had planned on early morning kayaking followed by Eeyore’s birthday, an staple Austin even that I have never experienced. But I had a massive allergy attack that put me out of commission until today. It still isn’t all gone, but I could at least function. We settled for milder activities.

First we went to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum to see Hubble 3D, an IMAX film. It was immediately followed by a talk with some astronomers from the McDonald Observatory to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Launch.

Lookin’ good Homestar… ridiculous 3D glasses!

After a fantastic lunch at Tom’s Tabbouleh (we picked up some birthday baklava for later), we headed to the LBJ Presidential Library & Museum.

LBJ Archives

I adore this painting of Lady Bird.

On the way home (and in the complete opposite direction) we drove by the newly installed knit bombing on south Lamar.

Gotta love Austin!

My birthday always sneaks up on me and I never really think much of it. But after all the phone calls, texts, Facebook messages, cards in the mail, and getting super special (normally just special )treatment from Paul all day, I feel like a really lucky gal. Thank you, everyone, for all the happy birthday wishes! It couldn’t be anything but!

Oh and the flowers!! I mustn’t forget the flowers from Anne & Jim!

By the way, Drusilla is the Swallowtail caterpillar we found in the backyard. I figured I wouldn’t ever be able to persuade Paul to name a pet or a child that in the future.

So I put her and the carrot tops in a box. She stayed through the night but when I got home from work the following afternoon she was gone. But Paul found her (we are going to pretend that it is the same one, ok?) on some Queen Anne’s Lace in the yard. She has been there for several days!

I liked how this picture came out…

hanging upside down

She was really going to town on this plant.  Queen Anne’s Lace is a member of the dill family which makes sense! Then Paul checked some of the others around the yard and we found some other friends.

Slightly different coloring but these are also Black Swallowtail caterpillars.

There were two! We are calling them Tweedledum & Tweedledee.

When I come home from work every day, Sonny and I immediately hit the backyard to see what has happened during the day. I immediately noticed this caterpillar on one of my baby carrots.

It is the caterpillar for a Black Swallowtail butterfly that is getting ready to pupate. They apparently like to hang out on carrots, dill and parsley. Nothing looked too ravaged though. I just picked her up (gently and with a spade) and moved her. (My brief research tells me that you cannot tell the sex of a caterpillar just by looking at them.)

When a Swallowtail caterpillar feels threatened, they stick out what looks like orange horns and (apparently) release a foul smell. I never did smell anything though.

I realized I had pulled up a funky carrot yesterday and still had some bits left over. I put the bits and the caterpillar in a box in the backyard. Hopefully she can still turn into a swallowtail in our backyard and not eat our garden up!

If anyone has any swallowtail experience, pass it on!

Last weekend was beautiful! We woke up early on Saturday and went to the Natural Gardener and then headed to the Wildflower Center sale. We put in a new bed in the front along the side of the front porch by the door. The UPS lady suggested we put a shrub by the door to hide packages and I had wanted to put something there anyway.

We got a wooly butterfly bush, a Texas sage shrub, some Mexican feathergrass (been wanting this forever!), an American beautyberry and two red Columbines. We don’t get a lot of sun in the big bed just outside of our bedroom and only partial sun in the new bed so I stuck with shade/partial shade perennials.

The pot by the front door has a hops rhizome. Just yesterday we saw a sprout poking through the soil!! Woowoo!

This picture doesn’t do it justice but we have TONS of visitors to the bird house and bird bath we got for Christmas.

The snapdragon vine is coming along nicely! I just help it decide which way to grow a little bit each day…

Crossvine is making a come back!

Sonny is helping us check on the veggies and herbs.

This little guy was poking around on the front porch.

While we were at the Wildflower Center, we saw this beautiful sculpture.
It might be difficult to make out… it is three people performing a wedding ceremony.

We are just about a month away and trying to focus on writing the ceremony and, especially, the vows. From the beginning I wanted to use a same-sex ceremony as the template for the ceremony and to borrow verbiage. They are more about friendship and being equal partners than about possessiveness. No one is “giving me away”, we aren’t “Mr. & Mrs.”, and no one will be obeying anyone.

We have included quotes, songs, poems, and excerpts that have stuck with us that we feel are appropriate for the occasion. Between what we have written and adapted, I think we have come up with a beautiful ceremony. It really reflects our values, personalities, and interests.

As for writing the vows, this is proving more difficult. I want to write something that I am actually going to be able to say… to Paul… in front of people… without tearing up. Oh and without just saying, “I think you’re really cool! LOL!”

Over the weekend we got a lot accomplished. We each got shoes, got the plates & cutlery in the mail, got the lavender for throwing in the mail, got Paul’s vest and tie, and I framed the pictures of Paul’s grandparents. We also purchased some fans for guests to hold during the ceremony should it turn out to be warm that day.

Putting together these seed packets isn’t my favorite activity so I keep finding other things that need to be done… and there are plenty! But Abbie and Val were a big help at movie yesterday! Thanks so much guys!!

This week we are getting the marriage license. Funny how each major step we do we say, ok now we really have to get married. It was said when we reserved the venue. It was said when the invites went out. I guarantee it will be said when we get the license. It is like each step is another nail in the coffin… the coffin of love.

This weekend my Aunt Vickie hosted a shower for us. I have to say I was a little apprehensive… so many people sitting in a circle watching us open presents! EEK! BUT we had a wonderful time and got so many excellent gifts! Thank you so much to everyone! And a special thanks to Vic for hosting!

We also met up with my good friend Cass for brunch at Buttons in Fort Worth. Wonderful soul food! We got to catch up with Cass about his recent judicial campaign and talked about the ceremony a bit because he is going to marry us!

OH and most importantly, Sonny is back! He spent a few weeks at my mother’s house while we were out of town. Oh, happy day!

I went to see their tour last night here in Austin @ the Long Center. It was aMAZING! I have always been a huge fan of Patinkin in everything from Princess Bride to The Secret Garden to Evita. He has such a booming voice and also such delicate falsetto. Patti LuPone is in a lot of musicals that I love, but I don’t think it is because of her that I enjoy them. She has a really unique, versatile voice that is perfect for musical theatre.

LuPone is known for being very saucy. If she thinks you are taking her picture or recording her performance, she will quit and walk off stage. (Maybe she got that from Sondheim? )I have never seen ushers plead with people to turn off their phones and not take pictures during the performance until last night. They were also holding signs. One usher made an announcement up in the balcony (but not to everyone, just a section of ppl which was kind of odd). I was actually nervous that someone was going to screw it up for the rest of us. Not long into the performance, someone’s cellphone rang and I held my breath until it was clear she was going to continue.

They were accompanied by only a pianist and an upright bass. Whoever put the song list together is fantastic. First of all, 12 of the 38 songs they performed were by Sondheim. They swung from song to song seamlessly with hardly a beat in between, yet it was very obvious when they would change character. Sometimes they would do some dialogue around a piece from a show just to lead into it. I think my favorite transition was as they finished “I Won’t Dance” they danced around the stage together and the musicians stuck in a few notes of “Shall We Dance” from the King and I before they went into “April in Paris”. Brilliant!

They didn’t really interact with the audience much. In fact, the only time they did was when Patinkin addressed the audience after they sang “Old Friends” and “Like it Was” by Sondheim from Merrily We Roll Along. He told the story of how they met doing the Evita tour in  1979. He said one night in her dressing room they reached out to each other with their “hearts in their mouths” and have been the best of friends ever since.

Mary and a few of her senior musical theatre classmates got to meet up with LuPone recently in New York for lunch and she told me a story from that meeting that gave me a little insight. Apparently LuPone hated doing Evita. They were overworking her in a role that involved a lot of belting and making big changes on her at the last minute. I think the ALW attitude was “do it or you will be replaced”. (Hope I am getting this story right! Mary, correct me if I am not.) Apparently their friendship with  each other was what got her through it.

Right after this they did some “surprise” numbers from Evita. Patinkin did “Oh What a Circus” and LuPone did (shockingly) “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. These weren’t in the program so it was a nice surprise and the audience went WILD.

LuPone was very emotional crying during several numbers. There were very dramatic numbers (an entire series of songs and scenes from Carousel!) to very comical numbers like “Getting Married Today” from Company. But their chemistry was amazing. You could tell they were having fun with each other.

Two thumbs up!

Mailed the invitations last weekend, starting to get RSVPS, and I ordered my rentals today. Forward progress!! Next up, figure out favors!

So I had my mind set on giving our guests evergreen tree seedlings as a favor at our wedding in May. However, we have several guests coming in from out-of-town. The seedlings are small so they WOULD travel but they should be planted sooner rather than later, and they might not make the trip back. Also, I know not everyone has a green thumb… some might forget, just not want to take the time to actually plant it, or they may not have the space to plant it.

Rock star Val sent me this website where you can print, cut and assemble your own seed packets! I might go get some vellum and give this a try. I can order wildflower seed in bulk for relatively inexpensive.

Maybe I can do half trees/half seeds? But if given the option, anyone might choose the seeds because it is less work. I just loved the idea of planting a tree from the wedding which would always serve as a memory. And, of course, love is “ageless and ever, evergreen…”

Paul had to work all weekend because of our long weekend at the coast. I took advantage of this to have some much needed self time and get some stuff done. It has been a very productive weekend! I:

• cleaned the house
• stuffed and mailed wedding invitations (w/ Paul) (while finishing The Wire) (!)
• weeded the yard
• planted TWELVE tomato plants
• did laundry
• watched the 3-part BBC adaptation of the Tenant of Wildfell Hall
• got the beer supplies for the rest of the wedding beer
• had mini-Xenathons in between all of these things
• checked on Marley for Ryan & Sarah (w/ Paul)

I love weekends with nothing on the books…