Wheat berries and pasta Bill finally took the plunge and decided which grain mill to get - it's called a Nutrimill. Works great - a bit loud but it grinds quickly so the noise isn't really a problem. Of course as soon as we got the mill we ground wheat (which Bill had already bought), soybeans, rice, and pretty much whatever we could find around the house :)

The wheat's great for breadmaking - we use a bread machine for mixing, kneading, and baking. (We use fingers and mouth for eating:) But I've been wanting to try pasta, so last weekend we mixed/kneaded some flour, water, and salt in the bread machine and then rolled it out with a rolling pin and cut it with a knife. Primitive, but effective. We even cooked it on the woodstove!

So I've been lusting after a pasta roller/cutter and found a nice one on Craig's List locally for a good price. I tried it out tonight, using a dough made with flour, eggs, water, and a bit of salt and olive oil (apparently the oil is superfluous, from my subsequent reading) - and the pasta was -terrific-. I can't wait to play with rice noodles and bean noodles and different ingredients in the wheat pastas.

Pasta (noodle-making, more generally) is a great sort of life-lesson: I think it's one of those skills that's easy to learn but difficult to master. But it's nice to learn with constant rewards (meals) along the way.  ¶ 12:24 AM