Over the last year or so we’ve slowly been accumulating new kitchen toys and cookbooks. And we’ve been experimenting with new recipes during that time. See Jeremy’s Crockpot or Slow Cooker Chili Recipe for an example.

But things seem to have been kicked into a higher gear recently. You see, we asked for (and received–thanks Mom and Dad) a KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer back during Giftmas. And my wonderful wife got me the KitchenAid KPRA Pasta Roller Attachment and the The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles to go along with the mixer.

My expectation was to mostly use the mixer for the occasional bread mix (which I haven’t tried yet) or cookie dough (ditto). But Kathleen is a big pasta fan and the meals in the book sounded quite tasty.

So a few weeks ago I began to experiment with making my own pasta. Much to my surprise, it’s a fairly easy and fun process. To make basic pasta, all you really need is some eggs and flour. In fact, 3 larger eggs and 2 cups of all purpose white flour is enough to get started.

The real trick, as it turns out, is getting the moisture level of the pasta right and working with the resulting dough. You want it to stick together just the right amount with the right texture. No too dry and not too wet or sticky. And you need to let it “rest” long enough that you can work with it.

Anyway, last night I made my third round of basic pasta and feel like I’m getting the hang of it. Combined with grilled chicken breasts, grilled asparagus, and a tasty olive oil and garlic sauce, it’s just fantastic. Fresh pasta really tastes so much better than the dried pasta you buy at the store. It’s hard to describe the difference. It’s lighter, tastier, and less prone to sticking. You simply must try it.

I highly recommend that pasta book too. If you’re getting serious about pasta and want a variety of recipes (both for the noodles and sauces), it’s a wealth of good information.

Next we need to try some of the more interesting pasta recipes that use more exotic flours and spices added in.

Pictures of my first and second pasta making adventures are on Flickr in Making Pasta.

Have you made your own pasta? What’s your experience been like?

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Last weekend we flew up to Pine Mountain Lake and drove into Hetch Hetchy to hike to Wapama Falls. The weather was fantastic for mid-January: clear and in the high 50s to low 60s. After about 15 minutes on the trail, jackets and outer shirts came off, and we were down to jeans and t-shirts.

Kathleen took several pictures of the Yosemite Valley area and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the flight up with our Canon SD800 IS. Here are a few of them.

You can see the full set in the Flickr photo set titled January 2009 Flight to Pine Mountain.

I shot about 250 more with my Canon 300D and you can see a few here.

The full set is on Flickr in Wapama Falls Hike in Hetch Hetchy Valley.

The picture at the top of this post was stitched together with autostitch on Windows and touched up in Picasa.

There are still more pictures of the hike that she took with the SD800 IS to come as soon as I get them on-line… You can always watch my full photo stream is here.

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I’ve been making variations on a crock pot chili recipe for the last few months and finally have a combination we really like.

Ingredients

1.5 – 2 pounds of ground beef
1 medium red onion
1/2 medium or large yellow onion
1/2 – 1 cup of frozen yellow sweet corn [see notes below]
1 green bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 14-16 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes [see notes below]
2 15-15 oz. cans of pinto beans [see notes below]
1 11.5 oz. can of V8 juice (hot if you can find it, regular otherwise)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cayenne pepper

Directions

Chop the red onion and add it with the ground beef. Brown over medium heat.

While the meat and onion are browning, add beans, V8, and spices to the crockpot. Chop green pepper, yellow onion, and jalapeno and add them as well.

Once the meat has browned and onions softened, add them to the crock pot as well.

Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve with freshly made corn bread or fresh noodles. Optionally top with shredded cheddar cheese and onion. Enjoy with a nice cold beer, if that’s your sort of thing.

Notes

Safeway sells 15 oz. cans of Pinto Beans that are “Mexican Chili Pinto Beans.” They work very well if you can find them.

Safeway also sells 14.5 oz. cans of Petite Diced Tomatoes with Garlic and Olive Oil. Also highly recommended. Some people use canned Stewed Tomatoes in their recipes but I find them to be too chunky. I like a nice uniformly thick chili.

Trader Joe’s sells some truly excellent frozen Organic Super Sweet Cut Corn. Get it if you can. They also sell a good corn bred mix.

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