Basil, Spinach and Goats Cheese Ravioli

My favourite venture so far, because the end result is delicious, was Basil, Spinach and Goats Cheese Ravioli.

Just before Christmas, I found a pasta machine on sale. I have wanted one of these for years now, because there is nothing beats fresh pasta. The egg pasta recipe I used was from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. I did a whole wheat pasta with chopped basil mixed in. The stuffing included cooked spinach, goats cheese, parmesean cheese, parsley and garlic.


Yummy. I did a pretty poor job of folding the raviolis until my guy joined in the fun. Who knew he was a master ravioli sealer?!


Once they were all ready, it took a whole minute to cook in some boiling water... the other beauty of fresh pasta - it cooks FAST! The preparation took a few hours my first time through though, but when you're working on it with a partner, it's pretty fun.

Final result, delicious pasta topped with a tomato sauce of your choice. Bon apetit!

Killing Two Crafts With One Knife

Today is my mom's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than with a new craft?

Yesterday, I interspersed work with craft time and finally made use of some nice art papers I bought when I was at university, in 2001. The first task was to make a box that would hold a little pottery bowl I purchased from Stanley Pottery on PEI when my band the Good Lovelies was last there on tour.

The largest box size listed in the encyclopedia is only 4" x 4" x 1.5", and this was about half the size I needed, so I doubled all measurements and produced a box roughly 8" x 8" x 3". I say roughly because, the lid, step two, turned out to be a little too big when I doubled the measurements. Oh well, I will be more careful next time.


The lid was looking a little plain, so I attacked a cutout flower decoration. All that was required was a template drawn on the back of a nice strip of Japanese paper, cut out with an exacto knife. The flower petals were not cut fully, and this means they can be bent upward, giving the appearance that they have been stuck to the box. Final touch, a bit of raffia to hold it all together.

You could never put anything too heavy in these boxes, but they would make nice reusable gift boxes. My mom quite liked it, and we have a date to make them together some weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Introductions

Hi folks, welcome to my blog.

I am beginning this online journal as much for myself as for the amusement of my friends, perhaps some unfamiliars who may find the misadventures entertaining. As for the content, it's up in the air. Mostly crafts, on occasion some cooking, and whatever other projects I decide to take on.

The initial inspiration though, is Miss Kerri Ough. For my 30th birthday this year, Kerri gave me Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts. It is a thing of Vinyl Cafe stories to be sure, a thing that my boyfriend may not be thrilled about when the projects begin to take over our dining room table, but I am intrigued. After spending a few unplanned hours reading through the encyclopedia, I decided I would attempt to tackle all of these crafts this year. It's lofty, I know, but let's see how far I get.

I have delayed the launch of this blog and so I do have a few things to display already. A week ago, the day I did my first reading of the encyclopedia, my brother was to stop by my apartment to pick up his laptop. We had a giant mound of clementines that needed to be eaten - what a perfect opportunity. My brother loves clementines, and I could make his visit my first excuse to do a craft. Flipping to the origami section, I located the little paper candy boxes. My first attempt produced a box big enough to hold one pea. Next attempt went a little better, and voila! Craft #1! Pink, origami candy box. Still too small for the clementine, but I liked the way the little orange just sat on top. I am pleased.

I am out of time for tonight, but I will catch up with the rest tomorrow.