lady_karelia

Last week, Dorkboy and Little Man fondly remembered the Crispy Duck dishes just about every Chinese restaurant in England has on the menu, and how they miss it. I clearly saw that as a challenge. So off I went in search of a reasonable recipe that isn't overly westernised and all that. And found one. The only change I made was I replaced the sugar with honey for the sauce, too. Cuz, you know, I don't like the idea of sugar. Not that I ate the duck. Well, I tried a bite because I was curious whether it tasted authentic. The guys wiped out 3/4 of the entire duck in one go. Oh, I added cucumber to the scallions for the pancakes, but otherwise, I followed the recipes, including the Chinese pancakes, which I cooked in the crepe pan. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures. Clearly, I was far too excited to think of that.

Then today, my new book arrived. I find good quality books on cooking more of an inspiration than actually looking for precise recipes. I devoured the book for breakfast. Until I reached the page that tells one how to make pasta from scratch. And I thought, Oooooohhhhh, Iz gonna make ravioli; mushroom-filled for us and pesto-filled for the young ones.

Two cups all-purpose flour, 3 large eggs, one tsp salt. Mix flour and salt. Pour eggs into centre of flour. With a fork, gently mix flour into the eggs until the fork sort of gets stuck in the mixture. Discard fork and start kneading with your hands. Pound the dough, knead it, pound it, knead it. All for a good ten minutes. When you think your arms are about to fall off from all the kneading, knead it some more. Then let the dough--and your arms--rest for 30 minutes. If you have a pasta maker, you're lucky. Follow the instructions that came with it. If you don't have a pasta maker, take your rolling pin out and roll the dough. Start at the centre and roll away from you, then turn it. Do this about, oh, a thousand times or so. Your goal is to have about paper-think pasta dough. Then cut it into rectangular shapes, twice the length of commercially sold ravioli. Then moisten the edges of half of each rectangle, put a bit of filling on, cover it with the dry part and press firmly together. Once you've used up all the rectangles, immerse in boiling water and boil for 6-8 minutes. Uh, yes, one of these days I'll remember to take pictures during the process.

1 shallot, finely cut, 2 garlic cloves, crushed, 3 baby portabella mushrooms, very finely cut, a handful of rehydrated (keep the liquid for the marinara sauce) wild mushrooms (I used mixed bolets), also finely cut, salt, black pepper, a handful of fresh parsley, finely cut, two tbsp grated parmesan. In a combination of butter and truffle oil, over medium heat, fry the shallot. When it starts browning, add garlic and mushrooms. Fry over medium heat until the liquid the mushrooms produce evaporates. Add salt and garlic and stir well. Take off heat. Add parsley and parmesan and stir again. Use to fill ravioli or just eat it straight.

And last but by no means least, 1 shallot, 3 garlic cloves, one tsp salt, pepper to taste, 6-8 basil leaves (or to taste), on tbsp olive oil, 5 roma tomatoes. Dump all into blender and liquify. Then transfer to pot and bring to gentle boil. Reduce heat to low for approx 2 hours until you have a sauce-like consistency. Dinner really was a lovely affair. It's all gone now. A pasta maker has just moved to the top of my 'urgent needs for the kitchen' list.

In other news, I tried signing up for the snuna exchange in time for the postings. Nope, no luck. Mod denied me and argued there is no age statement on my profile. I wrote back saying I understand my profile page being crowded, but age statement is there, and I pasted it into the PM. I guess expecting an answer is too much to ask for, eh? And giving a profile page more than not even a cursory glance, in which banners from various adult-only archives could have been noticed, or glancing at my friends list, which also would have shown the likelihood of me being old rather than underage would have been too much too. *snerk* Sorry to those of you who participate, but I won't be reading or reviewing. Cuz if I can't read all of the fics, then I don't want to at all. *pouts*

On writing, I have to edit one chapter to send to my lovely beta, and I have to complete another chapter of a different fic to send to my other lovely beta. I have an interesting three-word-prompt from

stefdarlin, which I am keen to write, but so far, I've come up totally blank. Lucius is very keen on progressing the other two fics, and I've been spending far too much time in the kitchen lately. I think tomorrow the cooking will be simple; maybe kugel, asparagus, and some green salad.

I still owe a few comments on the writing thread, which turned out overwhelming in a very positive way. I received much food for thought on the why and was surprised to find that a lot of the reasons you've given apply to me.