{ Sunday, March 23, 2003 }
The wind churns English Bay into a greeny froth, and bends umbrellas inside out so they resemble palm trees tied up for transit. I like the wind.
I took Stewart out to Ouest for his birthday on Friday night, and then on Saturday spent most of the day playing with my new computer, transferring all the files to it from Woobaby. We went out for brunch, then worked in the afternoon, then ate dinner at an Indian place on Commercial, both of us shivering and wearing our coats after drinking our mango shakes. We rented movies, and watched Moulin Rouge. I read a story in the new Ingeborg Bachmann book I bought, Three Paths to the Lake.
Today we went to Lynn Canyon with Dos Pesos, and Stewart showed me around North Van, which I hadn't seen much of before (suburban, not much to it). Now Stewart is out looking for semolina flour, so he can make pasta with the Atlas pasta maker Eric gave us, and I am working on my article. I also rented Dancer in the Dark, which I never saw when it was in the theatres. Maybe we will watch it later. I'm going to Mexico on Tuesday. The wind has died down, and now there is only the sound of fire, cooking and the tapping of my keyboard.
LINK | 8:30 PM | TB
Will I seem like too much of a jerk if I say this?:
Semolina not necessary, and even not preferred! Semolina is best for flour and water pasta, which is the extruded form of pasta that you get in boxes. Fresh pasta (flour and egg) is made with plain-old flour, preferrably fine-ground, but even just regular unbleached all-purpose will do.
Extruded pastas that you get in a box are not inferior to fresh pasta, though I think that is a common perception. Spaghetti, conchiglie, ziti, penne: buy them in a box. But lasagna, fettuccini, stuffed pastas like tortellini, make those with the Atlas.
There are, of course exceptions to that rule, and this to this rule too: extruded pastas work very well with olive oil sauces; fresh pastas work best with cream sauces.
Love,
Eric
Not at all Eric.
Good thing Stewart couldn't find the semolina then! We made the pasta with regular flour, and it was wonderful. He made a chorizo-parmesan-brussels sprouts sauce for it that was just amazing. He christened it Pasta Nicola. Kneading the dough is the worst part. Making the pasta is so much fun!!
Caterina | March 24, 2003 11:25 AM>Pasta Nicola
Mmmm, that sounds good.
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You should have seen the wind over here on Bowen Island today. We went out to Tunstall Bay which is on the west side of the island and were treated to rollers coming straight down the Gulf of Georgia and crashing on the pebble/sand beach. The two wharves at the bay were twisting and churning in the swell and the wind whipped the spray from the top of the waves to coat the beach wood.
And the sun was out, so despite getting chilled, we got wind and sun burned a little, and then my five year old daughter rolled into the chilled waters of Explosive Creek and we had to go back home to dry out by the fire.
Whew.
Chris | March 23, 2003 11:57 PM