From Scratch

Ben's first day in the MFA program at Ohio State was on Wednesday and I wanted to celebrate with a special, tasty supper. I dug out this fabulous pasta cookbook - appropriately titled,"Pasta" - that was given to me last Christmas by my old room mate, Tiffany. Everything in it looks positively delicious and wholesome, but there's very few items that my husband would venture to try; things stuffed with mushrooms and lobster or topped with asparagus and goat cheese. Understanding the amount of risk involved, I skipped the first few sections that are more for beginners and dove into the "filled pasta" section. I decided on a chicken tortellini recipe which included made-from-scratch pasta!

We have a fabulous spot just three miles down the road called the North Market that's full of fantastic vendors of wine, meat, fresh bread, fresh veggies, fresh flowers, fresh chocolate treats... oh man. This was my first stop and I couldn't help but feel like those cooks on TV that are filmed as they venture from one shop to another, narrating their fine choices of meat and herbs.

The entire kitchen had exploded within a matter of twenty minutes with my new food processor (a wedding gift from my grandpa that I'm obsessed with), cutting boards, knives, my favorite pyrex bowls, measuring cups and equal amounts of flour covering the counter and myself. With Ella Fitzgerald as my soundtrack, I mixed, kneaded, pureed, stuffed, boiled and baked my way through the yummiest dinner we've shared as a married couple. The pasta was accompanied by another recipe's cream and parsley based sauce and I whipped up a tasty bruschetta topping with some tips from our friend Shannon in TN, with broiled grape tomatoes and baked french bread. Ben's Mom was so sweet to drop some cookies off that night (a tradition she's had since his first day of school as a wee little one), so the three of us enjoyed what could have been a disaster, but turned out to be scrumptious. (I had the local pizza restaurant's phone number close by, just in case).