Mmm.... Strawberries

We live in a small town surrounded on all sides by farms.... miles and miles of farms. Summer is the best season in our town for many reasons but also because of the bounty that our farms provide. I have been searching for a pick-your-own ORGANIC strawberry farm (the pesticides reside in the skin of the fruit so any fruit or veggie that you consume from a non-organic farm will have a larger amount of pesticides if you plan to eat the skin on the fruit or vegetable). Unfortunately I could not find a local pick-your-own farm but I did find a farm about 10 minutes down the road from us that had organic strawberries. Strawberry season can be short and I was just so impressed with the beauty of her fruit that I bought 6 quarts... Now what am I going to make will all those berries....

PS. If you would like to find a pick-your-own farm near your home, check out this website http://www.pickyourown.org/

Homemade Pasta

I know, I know... I have been MIA for nearly two months and one of my friends here in O-town actually missed my posts... how lovely!!
Well it has been a busy month and Mr. E. and I just returned from a 10 day trip to Italy. One of our favorite foods from the trip (besides the Mascarpone and Nuttella gelato every night!) was the homemade pasta and I just knew that I had to learn that skill upon our return. After some investigating (thank you sister-in-law Mrs. E.), i was encouraged to purchase the Prago pasta machine which latches onto your countertop and costs quite a few Benjamins less than the KitchenAid pasta attachment. I decided that this weekend would be the perfect time to break out the pasta machine and learn the ancient art of making pasta.