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Evelyn & Vanessa Bradley's avatar

One of our favourite things to do with friends is pasta parties - I make the dough, and then together we roll it out and stuff really uneven, beautiful tortellini or ravioli. And then, naturally, devour.

Really loving all of your work — found you through the latest viral essay, and I’ll be catching up on everything for ages to come. Thanks for your beautiful words and for putting them out here for me to cry to ❤️

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Kim Foster's avatar

I LOVE THIS IDEA OF A PASTA PARTY! Now, I'm inspired. This sounds like exactly what I need to do. Thank you!

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cherilyn's avatar

YES! Perfect antidote for these times. I took a class in Cortona a few years precovid, drinking an excellent red, rolling out our hand made pasta and making a sauce-it was so freaking good by the time we ate. I had all intentions of making pasta at home but that intention got lost in life busyness. As I read your words I could feel the obsession building again, thank you!

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LeAnne Notabartolo's avatar

Weirdly, I am making pasta too...I am, however, using my pasta machine. And I bought fun new tools in Italy this past fall and I am using them too.

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Kim Foster's avatar

oooh! Please share what fun tools you got!!!

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LeAnne Notabartolo's avatar

A ravioli plate, a pasta crimper, and a tagliatelle roller (like a rolling pin, but with ridges to cut the pasta into the wide noodles).

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Kate Selner's avatar

Please tell me where to find the recipe for Hong Kong noodles. I want a huge bowl of that as soon an humanly possible. I was always a little envious of your feasts with Kian, wishing I had proximity to that kind of hospitality and food. Also, if I'm anywhere near Vegas, I'd be in your kitchen, shoulder to shoulder making pasta with you. And eating it. I've done it before, the making of pasta (yes, admittedly, with a machine) and I really enjoyed it, but like you, I wasn't in 'the zone' enough, I didn't have the time to slow down and really delve in to the process. Lately, though, I've been wondering if I should take on a few pasta making tasks, turning simple ingredients in to delight in a bowl, to make my granddaughter say 'Ooooh' when I set it in front of her. I might have to do that.

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Kim Foster's avatar

we are so overdue to cook and eat together. I mean years over due. And honestly, I didn't really get that I was getting a cooking school education out of our friendship! I look back now and think wow! This is the thing for me about making pasta too. I was too impatient. Too in a hurry. Too excited to just conquer something, so Im trying to lean into a process and also be okay with not being "the best" at it. Just doing it for the simple sake of doing it. aaaaah! maturity. LOL

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Kate Selner's avatar

I love your essays about the food you cook, as I imagine myself in your kitchen, chatting and nibbling and laughing at something mundane, or profound, depending on the day. If proximity never happens, there is, at the very least, imagination.

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Zora Margolis's avatar

I used to have a big, year-round herb garden when I lived in Santa Monica. And I went through a phase of making fresh pasta, mixing finely minced fresh herbs into the dough. Your picky eaters might not like it, but when I served it to guests, simply sauced with good olive oil and Reggiano, their eyes would roll up into their heads. It was so good. And so light--I used to say that the pasta would levitate off the fork into the mouth. I did use a pasta machine, and it has been years since the last one I owned rusted out from disuse. And unfortunately, I now have to be on a low-carb diet for medical reasons. But I have delectable memories to savor. And you can try it-- colored vegetable powders mostly add color, not flavor. But fresh herbs provide color and flavor.

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Kim Foster's avatar

Zora! I love this idea. Taking your inspiration to heart. You may have just made me start another herb garden. lol

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annie k ripp's avatar

Sooooooo very in😘

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Kim Foster's avatar

excellent!

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sameoldsteph's avatar

I'm so in! It's been years and years since I've made fresh pasta. Not having a pasta roller was something I once saw as an impediment, but your point of view is eye opening. I agree with you about slowing down, getting off the poisonous internet and just doing it by hand, from scratch, the way I too make rice and sourdough bread. I'm so boring, and it's great!

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Kim Foster's avatar

Yes! I did the same. I need this, I need that. Nope - i find this very freeing. excited to do it a long side you all. Thinking about how we can do this in community......

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sameoldsteph's avatar

Yes, fewer things, more substance and connection.

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KELLI DAVIDSON's avatar

I'm mostly in. My 12-year-old grandson is completely in! He loves making pasta and is getting better with it. Mostly, he loves to eat it so this is his way of making it just the way he wants it. he and I spend our days together and when I'm not teaching him ELA, Math, Science and social studies -- we are cooking. I will mostly be watching him make it and supervising. I don't have the patience to make it -- but he does. This will be fun!

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Kim Foster's avatar

I love this. I have a secret plan to make the kids start making pasta - we'll see! I love that he is making pasta with you!

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Paula's avatar

Love this. I’m in too! My Italian great-grandmother used to roll out her pasta sheets on the kitchen table with a broomstick handle. It was the best food I ever ate. ❤️

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Kim Foster's avatar

OMG!!!!! I love the broom handle. Fantastic.

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Matt Crawford's avatar

I'm in! Its like an almost instant reward charcutepalooza. :) My goal is to make some Biangbiang noodles. It has been on my list for a while now.

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Kim Foster's avatar

Ha! No need to let the friggin duck breast cure for 6 weeks, we can have noodles now. I'm going to need you to show me your biangbiang noodles!

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