On rare occasions I make homemade pasta.   It requires most of an afternoon, patience and the need to ‘get away from it all’.   Some people like to make reservations, pack bags, travel, arrive, unpack bags, look for food, try to sleep, look for food, be entertained, look for food, be entertained, look for food, be entertained and try to sleep.   Then they rinse and repeat for as many days as necessary, pack, go home, unpack and crash.

I make noodles.   They can be bought in any store.   Even the costly kind are relatively inexpensive.   Half an aisle in the supermarket is devoted to them.   They’re easy to prepare and are filling and satisfying.   Nevertheless, once you’ve eaten fresh pasta you will prefer it for the rest of your life.   At some point, you will wake up in the middle of the night, groggy and disoriented and think, “fresh pasta”.   Believe this.

Preparation is key.   One must clear off and thoroughly clean every inch of counter space available, plus the kitchen table.   Set up a drying assembly such as wooden spoons spanning a couple of supports on each side, or purchase wooden drying racks from a kitchen supplies store.   Cover with towels anything you don’t want to clean later.   Assemble the simple ingredients; flour, eggs and oil.   Now.   Turn on the answering machine and assign other family members to take care of business for the next couple of hours or more.

You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead. Your next stop; The Noodle Zone.

At this point I’ll direct you to this link on homemade pasta.   Further instructions are included with the pasta machine, or dough may be cut into sections, rolled out very thin and cut by hand.   The procedure is time-consuming, calming, soothing and cannot be rushed.   When you’re finished and the cut noodles are hanging on their racks, it’s time to clean the flour from nearly everything in the kitchen that wasn’t covered.   If company’s coming you’ll have to change clothes.   Pasta may be cooked immediately, up to a couple of hours later, refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen.   Then you get to eat it.   *sigh*   What a nice vacation.

Life is good.

Lisa Miller