Pasta-Fu Master (Level 5)

A few months ago I acquired a Kitchen-Aid pasta maker attachment (KPRA) for my mixer. There’s a long convoluted story behind this, the first KPRA I bought (while in Boston) was stolen on the flight to Israel. Thankfully Uri and Tamar got me a new one when they last visited.

Anyway, I’ve made pasta like 6-7 times so far and I’m steadily improving. I decided that the ranking of a true pasta-fu master should be measured by the thickness of the pasta. At first I could only reach level 3 before the pasta sheets got all sticky and crumply and much screaming was heard in Bloch street, Tel Aviv.

But now finally I am proud to say I am a level 5 master! The pasty, much like silk, flows through my hands, behaving like a well-behaved kitten, and producing the most angelic of pastas. Yesterday we made pasta (there would have been pictures but Shachar was a bit sick so I was rushed) and I dried it on our weird Israeli-style laundry drying device.

Huzzah!

Be The Vegetable!

For a few months now we’ve been subscribing (funny word in this context) to receive a crate of organic vegetables weekly. A nice lady called Maggie grows the vegetables in her large garden (near Jerusalem) and ships it out for a pretty reasonable price. We decided to go down the organic path for a few reasons (a) we thought it’d be cool (b) we wanted Shachar to eat healthier food (c) its nice to support small businesses, especially cool ones like this.

However, and that leads me to today’s post subject, we have no control over the vegetables we get!? Yes indeed, a few days before each shipment we get a list, and then it just arrives. Most of the vegetables I know how to deal with (Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Carrots etc.) but sometimes you get the really weird ones and you have no idea what to do with them. Read the rest of this entry »

Blogroll

I read a lot of blogs. A lot of blogs. My google reader currently lists 70 subscriptions. They are divided between things that interest me professionaly (programming, graphics, internet thingies) and my hobbies (cooking, photography, roleplaying, computer games). You can always see my shared items here, but I thought I’d list some of my really favorite blogs: Read the rest of this entry »

Breads of 2008

Looking back on my baking this year I think that its been a pretty good year. I got very comfortable with my sourdough, and started doing a lot of variations on the basic sourdough formula (by Peter Reinhart, the Bread Baker’s apprentice). My most recent bread were actually rhye milk rolls with a lot of sesame and flax inside, yummy!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tasting menu dinner

Last night we had a tasting menu dinner, 11 courses (4 appetizers, 4 entrees and 3 deserts) chowed down by 9 diners. It was excellent and a fitting culmination of our culinary adventures, just as Uri and Tamar are leaving for greener pastures. The full set here.