Pasta by Hand

When Mum visited here nearly 9 years ago she gave us a pasta maker - it has unfortunately only been used a couple of times - it is too humid in summer here to make a good batch. Cooler temps today got me thinking about fresh papardelle with a wild mushroom sauce. Fresh egg pasta dough is really easy to pull together but it needs to rest for an hour. I dragged the machine out, attached it to the kitchen island , and started the kneading process. This is truly a great reward for little effort. The pasta sheets I rolled very thinly , left them to dry for 15 minutes before cutting into strips by hand. I made a wild mushroom sauce with dried and fresh mushrooms and it was so good we forgot to take a photo for the blog! Again!

Olive Oil Taste Test

A lazy, wet Sunday afternoon - what else to do - but taste the five bottles of olive oil that Mark has managed to accumulate while I have been in Sydney. All Italian, all EVOO, all various price points. We were in agreement! Our favourite was Colli Etruschi, Lazio Italy - it had the longest finish and was the most peppery and greenest of the five. It was also the most expensive. A close second was Borgo de' Medici, Tuscany. Both of these we will drizzle on salads, vegetables and grilled steak from the WFO. For everyday cooking and salad dressings- Whole Foods 365 100% Italian had the greatest depth of flavour. Trader Joe's Premium was not too bad, Sur la Table's Marca de Verde il Classico was lacking in flavour and length. Of course we had a glass of wine to accompany - Schmid 07 Kremstel Gruner Veltliner.

Saturday night on the porch

Dinner on the porch. The rain had stopped and it was a warm enough to eat outside. Our favourite - roast chicken (this one a locally reared and slaughtered bird from Ty and Lisa) and vegetables from our garden - potatoes, leeks, onions, green beans. Holdridge Maizie Rose Russian River 2006 Pinot. A perfect end to a very relaxing weekend.

Is this a puff ball?

On our walk this morning , we spotted a large white mushroom standing alone on the side of the levee. We took it home to check in our new book- Missouri's Wild Mushrooms (by Maxine Stone).

It looked like a puff ball - a huge, white, smooth ball with a completely white interior that becomes brown with age. Check! They grow single or many in open pastures, woods or lawns. Check! We did what the book suggested and cut it open from top to bottom to confirm that it was pure white inside , like a marshmallow. Check!

We made plans to saute it to have with our leftover fillet steak tonight.

Just to make sure we emailed photos to the mushroom foragers we know.

One response "I found the shape curious for puffballs that I've seen in the books and the few I have had myself. I would hesitate to eat something that I wasn't quite sure of"

When we went back to the book we did read more closely that they are usually 8-20 inches tall, (ours was 6 ") with no sign of a cap or stem ( looks like ours has a cap or stem). Next time we will read the whole description. Mushrooms are off the menu tonight.

Family Farmlife

The Sheridans and Netherys have just left - and the farmhouse is too quiet. We had a wonderful week on the farm with my brother and sister and their families. How lucky we are to have had this time together. The only one missing was Mum - who is at home keeping an eye on things at Mosman. We celebrated my birthday, we ate well, we drank great wine, we shopped - Super Walmart must have had record sales that day. Nathan and Lachlan learnt to shoot, Liam and Matt perfected their aim. Liam finished on a high - hitting 5 clay birds in a row. He was beaming. Olympics 2016? Golf - don't ask about the cart, Baseball, boules, combine harvester and tractor rides, swimming in the lake, all you can eat chicken at Cross Roads, pizza from the WFO, time to talk and play. Lots of laughter. Lots of special memories made.