Comfort Food One Good Thing One Creative Thing Day 7

Yesterday was a bit of a rush through everything without much time for creating or absolute goodness. Until the end of the day when I got to cook my favorite comfort food Dirty Pasta.



If you don't like salty don't bother with this recipe.

1 box of noodles
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 tin or jar of anchovies
Parmesan cheese (better if you grate it right when you want it)

Directions:

Set a big pot of water to boil for the noodles.

Mince garlic, it can be sort of chunky for this.
Heat skillet to medium.
Add garlic and anchovies, include the oil the anchovies are in.
Mix in skillet until the anchovies have disintegrated.
Lower heat to low let them heat until noodles are done.
When water boils add noodles and cook (read box).
Drain pasta and put in bowl, or return to pot.
Pour sauce over noodles and mix until all of the noodles look "dirty".
Grate cheese (don't skimp).
Mix cheese into noodles evenly.
Eat.
I would suggest serving this with big glasses of water.

We will be out of town off and on for the next week so reporting will be a little spotty.

Settling Back In- Just one day

Oh did I have a blog. Actually I have been wanting to blog but our internet was a headache for a week and with everything else going on I just couldn't bring myself to sit down. The move has been really stressful for all of us but we are starting to get into a rhythm that works. Today was as close to normal as I've had in what seems like a year. We started with stopping by all three of us stopping by a bakery. Then Kevin headed off to work and Alder and I headed for a wander.



First to the bead store for supplies for a birthday gift. Which turned into a bit of a toddler time at the bead bath.



Then to the art store to visit the fish and all the colors. We spent ten minutes pointing to colors in the pastels and Alder started to understand that there are lots of different sorts of blues and greens.

After that it was off to the library for puzzles and choosing books for the week.

Then we were going to head home but it was getting close to one and I had to head off a mini meltdown by eating at the food co-op, Alder's favorite because he can have a plate of Peas, Olives and Tomatoes. It actually is the best lunch in town, both of us ate for seven dollars.



Then it was outside to the midweek farmers market for peaches and apple. Then we started for home... except we met another mama and kids and started talking so we went for a long walk with them. Until we passed by a playground and Alder was set on going (did I mention we didn't have the stroller) so they went home and we played for an hour or so. Then I carried him the mile home (have I mentioned just how hilly Brattleboro is?).

Once home we played with the beads on his table and made cookies to freeze. There was an almost meltdown when the cookie was too hot but we made it all the way until without any tears from either of us. I can hear the buzzer for what ever Kevin's cooking so I should end now.

We're Off!

As summer has gone into full swing around here with farm visits, yard sales and barbecues we are heading out of town for a week for time with family at the cabin and an early birthday party for Alder. So this is a hodge-podge of an entry.

1) Maple Pudding: [based loosly on How to Cook Everything Vanilla Pudding Recipe)
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (you can adjust the sugar to maple ratio to suit yourself)
3 table spoons of cornstarch
3 eggs (the fresher the better)
2 1/2 cups milk (you can use cream or half and half but I wouldn't use skim)
2 tablespoons of butter

Directions
1) mix sugar, salt and cornstarch in a pot.
2) mix eggs milk and maple in a bowl until even in color.
3) turn heat under pot to medium.
4) pour in egg mixture while whisking and continue whisking for about ten minutes, the mixture will begin to thicken.
5) once off the stove add butter and mix until butter is all incorporated.
6) put into 4 bowls or ramekins, cover (tin foil or such) and refrigerate.
7) when you are ready to eat it serve it in the bolws. If you are feeling gluttonous serve with warm syrup or cream.

2) One Local Summer Meal

[I don't have miles on this meal]

Sauteed Lamb with Garlic Scapes

Polenta with Gorgonzola

Steamed Spinach

One Local Summer week 3

This week was a bit of a rushed meal, as in we started cooking hungry but chose to make something that took too long so we ended up eating the main dish really quickly and only slowing down when it came to dessert.

Pasta with Chard and Basil Pesto

Flour: 80 miles Champlain Valley
Eggs: 7 miles MDC Poultry, free range eggs
water, local
Basil: 7 miles Mighty Food Farm CSA
Chard: 7 Miles Mighty Food Farm CSA
Maggie's Round (young cheddar): 17 Miles Cricket Creek Farm
Olive Oil: not local

Maple Pudding

Eggs: 7 miles MDC Poultry, free range eggs
Milk (raw): 17 Miles Cricket Creek Farm
Maple Syrup: VT local (can't remember where from)
Cornstarch: not local
Sugar: not local

Rosemary Quiche Bread Recipe

First off I want to apoligize about the lack of pictures on the blog. I am doing my blogging at the library which doesn't permit the use of any disks. Usually I can go over to a friends to load pictures but the last time I was their her router was sluggish (understatement). So for now I'm going to stick to words. When I finally get to loading pictures we can all do a happy dance, especially you Alder fans.

Nicole asked for the Rosemary Bread Quiche recipe [I improvised in the making the first time so all of this is approximation]

1 round loaf of bread (I chose Rosemary bread you could do it with anything although I would avoid using anything too dense like a black bread since in won't absorb the liquids as well.)

4 or 5 eggs depending on size, we had one short guy and one really skinny one so we went with 5.

1 cup or so of milk.

1/2 lbs of komatsuna (or other hard green like kale or collards)

1/2 cup goat impasta (again approximation)

a pinch of salt

butter, enough to spread on inside of bread (I'll explain in a bit)

Directions: [preheat oven 425]

1. In a bowl mix together the milk and eggs until uniform in color but not foamy.

2. Add impasta to liquids, set aside.

3. Cut off the top of the bread and dig out the innards, like making a bread bowl for soup. note:save the rest for stuffing or croutons)

4. Roughly chop up komatsuna and add to liquids.

5. Butter the bottom of the loaf of bread and the insides.

6. Put bread in a baking pan (I like glass or cast iron since they heat more evenly than the thin metal cake pans)

7. Pour egg mixture into bread.

8. Cook for approx 30 minutes, although I start checking at 20 minutes. You want the insides set on the edges but still liquid in the middle, a little, since it continues to cook after you take it out.

Unfortunately while this is great the first time round it didn't make for the greatest leftovers, so come with a big appetite or have friends over.

Enjoy!

OSL Week 2

One Local Summer week 2 (I'm behind by a week, at some point here there will be two, if I can mange to get to a computer that often) note that this meal was made away from home so the milage is from both our house and the place that we had the meal. The two houses are 40 miles apart.

Rosemary Bread Quiche

1 loaf of Rosemary Bread 4 miles Olde Creamery, Cummington MA
komatsuna (collard greens like veggie) 4 miles Mighty Food Farm , Pownal VT
eggs 3 miles, Hawley MA
milk, regional Western Massachusetts Cooperative Dairy
goat cheese impasta, Guilford VT, 50 miles (but 18 from where Kevin works)
salt, not local.

Sauteed Kolrabi

kolrabi 4 miles Mighty Food Farm, Pownal VT
garlic, not local
salt, not local
chives, 0 miles kitchen garden.

Strawberry Shortcake

strawberries 2 miles, The Apple Barn, Bennington VT
cream 22 miles, Hadley MA
flour 70 miles aprox, King Aurthur Flour.
butter, regional, Cabot creamery (VT coop)
salt, not local
baking powder, not local
baking soda, not local

OLS week 1

This week's One Local Summer

I only got a picture I only got a picture of the bread.

Meal:

Salad
Lettuce - 7 miles Mighty Food Farm CSA, Pownal VT
Radishes - 7 miles Mighty Food Farm CSA Pownal VT
Onion- aprox 25 miles Local farm from Western Mass.

Dressing
Olive oil- not local
Vinegar- 170 aprox made by my aunt, Woburn MA
Mustard- not local

Bread (NO Knead Bread):

White bread flour- 75 miles Champlain Valley Flour
Kosher Salt- not local
Yeast- not local
Water- from tap

Goat Cheese Impasta- (farm name to be added later) Gilford VT 75 miles

A Day in the Life

Alder and his scone

7 am Wake up and cuddle time, that's until someone has to go to the bathroom.

8am Breakfast as a family, super yummy corn porridge,

9:45 Head out in the snowy weather to Manchester for story time at the bookstore (yes we drive 25 miles each way once a week for story time)

10:30 Story time at the Northshire Bookstore. Which involves a lot of not sitting and listening but wandering around the children's floor retrieving toys to play with briefly. It also means being around other mama's I like.

11:45 Lunch at Spiral Press Cafe, we have been unfortunately dubbed the Mommies Club. Good healthy food. Alder is the oldest of the lot so he sits in a booster seat instead of a high chair. At the end of the meal Alder takes everyone's trash to the garbage.

12:00 Back up stairs with a few friends to play in the children's section. It would be so much fun to be the buyer for the toys and games up there.

1:00 Search for regional geology book for Kevin with no luck.

1:15 Head back home in even more snow.

2:00 Visit Kevin at work, so I can check my email. During this time Alder falls asleep in Kevin's arms and takes a nap in the display crib (wow this is the second nap in as many weeks)

2:45 While Alder naps I visit a friend at her shop across the street for a little while.

3:30 Alder wakes up and we head to the grocery store.

4:00 Snacking begins granola bars dipped in plain yogurt (yum). While snacking I start dinner, I felt like making something pretty. We end up with Broiled Haddock in a sweet chili rub with yellow pepper salsa, sautéed brussel sprouts, and onion pablano pepper rice. No recipes just futzing with what we have around the house, except the haddock. Alder discovers he likes a capella music.

6:00 Family dinner, Alder managed to eat most of the brussel sprouts and a fair bit of rice.

6:45 I take staged photos for my new article.

7:30 Write blog and send photos in.

[Other new Alder news. Now he's walking down the stairs. Saying bye-bye, teeth (when touching his our someone else's). Runs everywhere. Is starting to play pretend. Is in that weird stage of understanding tons more than he can express himself. Has given up on playing by himself, he needs one of us to be in the room with him, not doing anything too real but not playing with him.]

When you are two days past due on shopping what do you eat?

We are in desperate need of food shopping, the only thing in our fridge other than condiments is a five pound bag of carrots and some goat cheese. Not exactly the makings for a great dinner. Luckily our freezer always has some long forgotten-gotten on sale-because who doesn't need an extra pound-of something. And our pantry is well stocked with grains and beans, both dried and canned. With some creativity, and a glass of wine, I managed to fake an Indian-French fusion dinner (okay the fusion thing is pushing it but we thought it was funny).

So here I offer you our hearty dinner. The meal isn't vegetarian but it could easily be tweaked to work that way.

You'll need:
1 cup short brown rice
1 cup yellow lentils (they are the orange ones)
2 sausages (yes it's nice they make chicken ones but for cooking pork is the only way to go)
1/2 cup of raisins
salt, to taste,
teaspoon of salt
olive oil


1. Saute three cloves of garlic in olive oil until you can smell them.
2. Add sausage and let sizzle until they brown.
3. Meanwhile, put the brown rice with 2 1/2 cups of water in a pot (you made need to add more depending on the pot), cook on medium high.
4. Add lentils to sausage and garlic and saute for a few minutes.




5. Add a cup of water and the raisins, and stir the pot occasionally when the water boils down add more until the lentils are falling apart.
6. When you add the second cup of water to the lentils add the salt and the rosemary.

When you take the lentils off they should look like this.

Enjoy!!!

40 Days Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I have been doing research on local foods for an article lately . One of the books that I have been reading is Barbara Kingsolvers "Animal Vegetable Miracle" which is about how her family ate locally for one 'growing' year. It got me thinking about how lucky I have been living in places where there is a lot of local food available. Last year we made a decision to only eat tomatoes if they were in season, or canned, not only were they coming from far away but they tasted awful. Does anyone else remember the novelty of fresh tomatoes in January when they came three in little plastic crates from Israel? My mom called them styrofoam.


To shift to a different member of the plant family completely I thought I would share the joys of strawberry rhubarb pie. Which is one of those fleeting dishes that only comes around once, maybe twice a year. The recipe that follows the pictures is my own, every recipe that I have tried came out either too sweet or too complicated. As you'll see in the pictures pie crusts are tough for me (I blame the lack of humidity in Colorado since I can make a great one at sea level), so you'll have to fend for yourself on that, although I would suggest a butter based one rather than shortening because the pie is very tart and needs balance.






Ingredients

3 pints of strawberries
2 cups of chopped rhubarb
5 Tbs evaporated cane sugar (if you use white sugar it will increase the sweetness)
1 tiny pinch of salt
1 Recipe for pie crust

0) Preheat oven to 350
1) Chop rhubarb in pinkie width pieces.
2) Hull and quarter strawberries.
3) Mix fruit with sugar and salt and let sit.
4) Make crust.
5) Dump fruit mix into crust in pie pan.
6) Make lattice (Obviously my attempts was lacking).
7) Put in oven for about 45 minutes or until the house is so full of flavor that you can't wait any longer, surprisingly they are about the same.

Making Paneer

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the cheese when it was solid. This is my first cheese making endeavor. It was really very easy, all you need is a half gallon of whole milk and two limes.

First you heat the milk on medium in a heavy bottom kettle, stir it occasionally to keep the bottom from burning.

When it's boiling lower the heat and add the juice of one of the limes.

Then stir constantly until the curds form. If this doesn't happen after five minutes add some more lime (I ended up adding another half of a lime).


When the curds are fairly large turn off the heat and let it stand for about ten minutes.


Then pour it into four layers of cheese cloth in a colander. Let it drip for a while.


Then gather up the corners of the cloth and tie them up so that the knot is just above the curds (I found that tying on the diagonal was the best way to keep it together).


Then hang it on the neck of the sink faucet for a half hour.

When the half hour passes twist the cloth tighter around the cheese to squeeze out the remaining liquid.


Hang it again for another half hour.

After than form it on a plate in a rectangle and put it into the fridge for a few hours.

After that you can cut it up and sautéed it for things like Saag Paneer or use it as a spread like cream cheese.

I suppose you could add some salt or herbs at the beginning if you want to give it a little more flavor for a spread.

While making cheese you might want to keep a good eye on your kids or pets, if you don't you'll never know where you'll find them.

Cardamom

I have a recipe for cardamom rice that I have been making for a while. But it wasn't until I found a recipe for a great bread that has cardamom in it that I discovered that the green seeds I was using were not the actual cardamom seeds. The first time I made the bread the recipe called for breaking the pod and removing the seeds. I expected to find a few narrow seeds life fennel or bulkier like sunflower seeds. Instead the seeds that I found were many and ancient looking. The experience of opening the pod was like walking into a store front and finding a medieval cathedral inside, and that is just the visual. When I separated the seeds their aroma spread through out the kitchen.

Cardamom comes from southern India and Sri Lanka. It is grown in monsoon forests and until the 19th century it was not cultivated. It's history is long, the first written mention of it was in the 2nd century BCE where it was mention in an Ayurvedic medical text. Like coffee, tea and other spices cardamom was traded for centuries along the silk road. It is highly valued, only out priced by saffron and vanilla. It's cultivation came during England's colonization of India, part of the immense plantations for coffee and tea of the era.

There is a lot more information about Cardamom here: http://www.plantcultures.org.uk/plants/cardamom_landing.html

Yesterday I made both the bread and the rice. The house still smells of cardamom. I imagine that it is a scent that has been filling kitchens and tents for thousands of years.

Fish Stew for the Landlocked or the Hungry

So here I am land locked in Colorado less than two hundred miles from the center of the continent and what did I make for dinner last night? Fish Stew. It was out of necessity, I have to eat things that are soft, we had the makings in the freezer, and I had never done it so it had to be done. As per usual I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted to taste but I also was not going to go out to get anything else to make this. So I perused the cook books for general ideas and set about making it.

First off I will say right now the fact that I used frozen clams is only because they were in the freezer. My dear husband bought them over a year ago for god knows what and they have sat there ever since. I do not endorse frozen shellfish (except shrimp) at all, shell fish should still be live when you cook it, please do not try to supplement any canned fish products it will not work.

What you need for Fish Stew (makes enough for two hungry people or four less hungry people):
This is best made in a cast iron kettle or any heavy stew pot.
1 pound boneless white fish (I had trout laying around)
1 dozen little neck clams or half dozen little necks and half dozen mussels
1 dozen or more shrimp
1 white onion, finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, rough cut
8oz peeled whole tomatoes
4 cups water
1 cup white wine
ground pepper
dill
thyme
olive oil

What you do:

1) Steam the clams ( and mussels) over the water and wine for about 3 minutes. Reserve the liquid and remove the shellfish.

2) Heat oil in kettle add onions saute until soft. Add tomatoes chopping them up a little and garlic. Cook for the amount of time it takes to shell the steamed fish and cut up the fish into 1 inch chunks. Add the reserved liquid and the recently chopped and shelled fish. Through in some Thyme, Dill, and ground pepper.

3) Let simmer for 1 hour.

4) Peel the shrimp and add them to the stew about 5 minutes before you plan on serving it.

This meal goes really well with either crusty bread or brown rice. Enjoy!!

My helpful assistant

Sex Roles

We got back from our trip this afternoon and I've been busy since doing grocerie shopping and cooking. Writing that sentence is an uncomfortable one to write. If you didn't know Kevin and I you might think that it was some sex role thing but it isn't. It is Saturday which means that the stores will be really crowded and Kevin hates crowds so I offered to do the shopping while he and Alder stayed home (they did do laundry and put clothes away. As for the cooking I love to cook and Kevin did not feel like cooking so I did. Also I wanted to start my split pea soup. Kevin already has congee started for tomorrow.

Valentine's Dinner 1

This year Kevin and I decided to trade making nice dinners for each other as our Valentine's gifts. We thought it was a good way to spend time doing something we love (cooking) for someone we love (each other) and getting to do something we love (eating good food) together. I made my dinner on Saturday night.

From Valentine's m...

The table is set and the candles lit.

From Valentine's m...

Sauteed Shrimp with Saffron Rice (a bit blurry)

From Valentine's m...

Red Snapper Stuffed with Shallots on a bed of Arugula

From Valentine's m...

Strawberries and Blood Orange Slices in Balsamic Vinegar served with a Soft Sheep Cheese

From Valentine's m...

Flourless Chocolate Cake dusted with Coco powder, they had powder sugar hearts on them.

The meal ended with a massage. Mmmm. Somehow I was the one who got the massage. I can't wait to see what Kevin creates.

A Stroll in Grain Valley

You know when you get one of those healthy multi grain rolls, sometimes called crunchy rolls? Well those little yellow crunchies are millet. For a long time I have searched out these rolls primarily for the wonderful crunch that those tiny beebees make. I've even started to add them to my own bread. Well today I met a whole different face to millet.

I was contemplating dinner and didn't want rice or couscous. But dinner needed a grain. So I went wandering in the dark forest that is our grains shelf. The trail was a wandering one. The first grain that I met along the way was quinoa. I respectful little dude with a Saturnal ring around it's belly. But for as kind and decent quinoa is he's a little boring. Not the sort of guy you invite for a road trip. We said our goodbyes and I continued on my way.

Next I encountered old bulgar. Now bulgar is fine if you give her good company. She a wonderful counterpart to something strong like feta or lemon but on her own she's quite a shell. Not only is she a bit flaky but she is quite gruff too. As she was alone on the trail she barely even said hello- just a grunt.

I was heading down the valley trail wondering if I would end up inviting good old couscous since she's easy and tasty. It's been said by some that she's so fast that even her kisses lack virginity. That being said couscous is a good friend, solid and true, I've known her for years.

I was lost in a memory of lamb and couscous when I heard a small cough. I looked up to see millet. Millet I said, nice to see you but shouldn't you be over in Bakingtown? Why no no he said, that's just a part time gig. I spend most of my time here among these grains.

My face must have betrayed my surprise because he continued. Actually, I am one of the most popular grains in Africa and Asia, hearty and tasty. While I love millet's spunk I was a little surprised by he forwardness. I was used to him as the punch line, not the whole story. But he continued on, you should give me a go I'm done up like quinoa but there's more to me than that sorry old grain.

How could I say no. And he was right I'm now in love with a new grain... Millet. He's got a lot of depth of flavor slightly sweet and nutty. Like couscous he is supposed to be there to accent the main dish, but both of them don't realize that there is pleasure in eating them alone, especially if their cooked in broth. I'm not giving up couscous but millet is up there in my heart now.

What is it About Cooking in the Winter?

I'm at it again. I've been cooking and baking all week. I can't seem to stay out of the kitchen. We've had stews and curries and tons of veggies. Each meal is becoming a narrative, a story that I tell myself as I cook. Some are just reconstructions of the day in others I am cooking in an eighteenth century farm house as the blizzards rage outside. The cutting and measuring has become the crafting of sentences; the braising or sauteing character development. When the meal is finally on the table it is the tale that I had been creating.

This literary turn of thought sent me to the library to find books about food. Not cook books but narratives. There are lots. I picked up "Dirty Sugar Cookies" by Ayun Halliday and "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell. They were both satisfying and motivating. I think I might write a piece on one single meal and its creation. But the author who I really need to pick up is MK Fisher, the grand dame of food writing. She was more of an eater than a cook but her writing pulls you to the seat next to her and hands you a plate.

Bread has been coming out of our kitchen fast, but not, it seems, fast enough for those of us who are eating it. I've given up on the original french bread recipie that I have been using. It has begun to taste like plain white bread. Instead we've had a Potato Whole Wheat bread that was so good that we finished the two loaves in as many days never even bothering to make sandwiches. Alder was a big fan of gnawing on the heel of that one.

Yesterday I tried a Pugliese. I liked what making a starter first did for the flavor. It gave it a strong wine taste to the bread. However, the amount of rising time as well as the various methods for each step were tiresome (I started at 3pm and finished at 11pm). The theory behind all the care put into the rising was to enhance the size of the holes in the bread. Wonderful, but honestly when I put effort into my bread I want it to be for the flavor or for it's height. As it was the bread never even reached three inches, its not supposed to.

On Being Domestic

Bread

The kitchen captured me today! I've been cooking and baking all afternoon. I baked four loaves of bread. I like this recipe for it's ease but I'm getting a little tired of the flavor so it's time to branch out. Still the act of making bread is one of the most centering in my life. I love how it smells like bread as the gluten forms and how it sighs when I punch it down.

It wasn't just bread that I made to today. Decided to make a nice dinner for Kevin, since he made homemade pasta last night. Stufato di Agnello alla Vino Blanco (lamb), Saffron Couscous, a Fennel and Onion soup, and bittersweet choclate pudding. Sounds like a lot of work but it actually only took an hour, except for whisking the pudding. Not bad for throughing something together with what is around the house.

Cooking, like reading, is something that I approach as a completely personal experience. I may be cooking for a group of friends or myself; either way it is the act that is satisfying. Back when I lived by myself I would make nice dinners for one, now that I have someone else to offer it to I give it as an act of love.

The comparison to reading is far reaching. Like cooking no two people read the same written piece the same way. As a child my father read to me the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books every night. I loved the sense of adventure and place that Tolkien created. In high school I discovered that most people I met who had read the books looked at them in a very different manner they saw them as magic and war oriented. Neither view was wrong.

Cooking is the same way, many people may make a soup but none bring to it my expectations of both the outcome and the experience (I'm guessing most don't think this much about it). I on the other hand revel in the soup. I love the chopping of the ingredients, watching the onions turn from white to transparent, listening to the pot ask for more liquid, and the smells that infuse the house. I love knowing when to push the heat and when to use time. Of course I love the eating of the soup but not as much as creating it.

I watch other people cook, ones who enjoy it, they follow recipes milligram to milligram, or they have different spices. The experience seems nothing akin to mine although they still love what they are doing, their enjoyment does not seem to come from the same thread as mine. Then there are those rare occations when I meet someone who approaches the kitchen the same way I do, my husband included, and I feel as though I have found a soulmate.

On a seperate but equally domestic note. I don't usually get giddy about inanimate objects except art and books but I was down right giddy yesterday when Kevin came home with Alder's new cloth diapers. We've easily spent the cost of the new diapers on disposable ones in the two months we've waited for them. Yes I love them for environmental and economic reasons but my main reason for love is that disposable diapers give Alder a rash. He's been in the new diapers since last night and the rash has vanished. So while I can where my Earth Mama badge again for having him in them I'll know that I'm also making the little bug more comfy.

Snow

Bath time with Papa

Last week it snowed 30" at our house now it's snowing again. The city hadn't even gotten to plowing the side street yet and here we go with more snow on top of melt. Time to spend time cuddling and being creative. We haven't left the house all day.

The weather has put us in the cooking sort of mood. Kevin made amazing pasta from scratch, he's finally figured out the secret. It was like something out of a restaurant, not the worm like stuff his other attempts have been. He is now the pasta maker extraordinaire. I baked french bread today, two baguettes and two round loaves, we've already eaten two of them. For lunch I made corn bread. If the snow keeps coming down I'll bake more tomorrow.