Pasta Party!

Facebook invite from Meghan: Pasta party. Saturday 10/2.  3pm til....
Making ravioli...squash ravioli to be exact.  Such an art.  Attendees were me, Alexis, Katie, Liz and Shannon (in spirit, since Denver is too far away for a day trip)
.
Everyone brought an ingredient or two.  I brought squash and sage...both from my garden.  Alexis brought the Romano cheese and a batch of very delicious chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Liz brought ingredients to make pesto (i made mine last weekend).  Katie brought wine.  Can't have pasta without wine!

So with 6 batches of dough (that Meghan made with Nana earlier in the day), Katie and Liz made 3 batches of squash ravs and Alexis and I made 3 batches of regular cheese ravs.  And all the leftover pasta (trimmings from the ravs) was cut into strips.  Not a drop wasted. 

Meghan instructing Katie and Liz in the art of shaping the dough.  With a motorized machine, the dough can be made into a circular loop.  Then it's run through settings 1 to 5...thinning the dough to just the right thickness.

the pro

squash and ricotta mixture

ricotta mixture

squash ravs

the final product...sheets of ravioli

Andy and Devon returned with bread, steak and more wine.  Pan fried steak with a peppercorn marinade.  And cooked enough ravs to eat and still leave enough for each of us to take some home.  Also, a little bowl of pasta mixed with fresh pesto.  And, of course, lots of wine.

Two pans of ravs, one of pasta and one of fried steak

mmmmmm.  almost ready to eat

who said too many cooks spoil the pot.  here's a kitchen full...

ravioi with sage butter sauce

steak, two kinds of ravioli, pesto pasta and garlic bread

good food and great company

mmmmmmmmmmmm.  It was all delicious.

Shannon, we were sorry you couldn't join us, but were happy to have you in spirit and photo.

A few of my favorite things...at least for today.

Bear claws and grilled veggies.
I bought the bear claw forks in the general store at Fishing Bridge village in Yellowstone National Park.  They are fabulous.  My best purchase at the park.
Grilled veggies...some of them from my garden.  Marinated with herb basting oil, salt and pepper.
Oh so good!

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings...  sleeping late, then lingering over coffee, breakfast and the crossword. Rarely a puzzle that Jim and I can't solve when we work at it together. On the deck in the summer.  In front of the fire in winter.  Love those lazy Sunday mornings.

basil to pesto

future pasta dishes and pizzas.  I grew the basil in my herb garden.  Not the best crop, but i managed to nurse along enough plants to make a batch and a half.  So, fresh picked basil, added to parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil and pine nuts became six small jars of pesto.  Frozen for yummy dinners all winter long.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Old frozen bananas.  Old Kentucky recipe.

Makes the best banana bread ever!

Dinner at Nana's

Of course, this isn't all we had to eat!  Dinner Friday night at Nana and Papa's...after their return from Italy (again).  We had Osso Bucco which is one of my favorites.  The pizza was just an appetizer, but would have been enough for dinner.  It was delicious.  Mozzerella, ricotta, tomato, basil and dough from Baker Street Bakery.  Yummy!