New Toys for My Great Passions

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been actively trying to do our part to save the economy by spending, spending and more spending. If you've been visiting our blog, you'll know that two of my favorite passions are photography and cooking. So being in a buying mood, we (as in Andy =) ) bought a new Nikon DSLR camera, two awesome lenses, a stainless steel All-Clad pan , and a pasta roller/cutter attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer. I think we've done enough for the economy for now. =(

To celebrate the arrival of my new toys, we made fresh pasta on a weeknight. It actually didn't take as long as last time: the purchases have definitely paid off.

Here is my egg well

Fresh pasta being rolled out by the pasta roller attachment.

The finished product. We substituted the Tuna with Tilapia and added some baby broccoli.

Fresh Pasta! Mmm!!

For Christmas 2008, Newt and Joanne suggested that instead of buying gifts for one another, we should do something fun together. So last Saturday, Joanne, Newt, Jenny and I spent several hours at Draeger's Cooking School learning how to make fresh pasta. Surprisely, it wasn't that difficult at all. I have always had this perception that making fresh pasta requires a lot of time. We made several different kinds of pasta: Agnolotti; Fazzoletti; Farfalle; Fettuccine. We had a blast learning and I look forward to this family tradition for years to come. Now we just have to decide which pasta machine to buy...

Fazzoletti - Little Handkerchiefs

Farfelle - Butterflies or Bow Ties

Garnet Yam Agnolotti

The Lee Sisters rolling out the dough.

Jenny was surprised at how long the handkerchief was.

Jenny sharing the leftover yam filling with Newt.

Andy helping to cook the fresh pasta

Marble Coasters of Little Baby Ryan

Several weeks ago, I saw these awesome marble coasters. You can put any photo you want on them. They are made by Tilano and they make for fantastic gifts.

It was my sister's birthday and I surprised her with 4 marble coasters of little baby Ryan. Look at these pictures! He just keeps getting cuter and cuter.