Pictures of Noodles

I made some pasta.  It was fun.  Even after everyone got home from work/activities and suggested that perhaps there wouldn't be enough to make a full dinner and I made a second batch.  Since I am super extra I used the recipe for fresh pasta from Serious Eats, but didn't pay attention and made it with Semolina flour, then panicked and threw in some olive oil at the last minute while kneading the dough.  The second batch I made with a 50/50 ratio Semolina to All Purpose flour.  I thought these noodles (which got the pesto treatment) were the better ones.

Look at my beautiful pile well of eggs! 
Now I just masterfully mix in the eggs bit by bit....

Flee!  The dam has been breached!  
Run for your lives!  Spoiler alert: this happened both times.

This bitch is TOUGH to roll out by hand! 
How many folds did you say I need to do? Three?! 

That is very pretty though!  

Also, because I am extra (as previously mentioned) I made some marinara to go with the noods.  I started it out making a garlic and onion confit, which basically just means I gently sautéed an entire bag of pre-peeled garlic and two onions in a cup of olive oil and an entire stick of butter for several hours on low.  Unlike a high heat roasting process (which I also use a lot on garlic) this low heat process cooks the garlic gently and really brings out the sweetness without any of the acidic or bitter notes that garlic can have.  Which is a lot of words to say I started with a lot of garlic and onions.

I saved back around two cups of the confit to use later, and had a bout a cup of it in the bottom of the pan as my sauce base.  From there I added all the tomatoes that I had.  Three slightly winkled on the vine tomatoes, one carton of seriously wrinkled cherry tomatoes, one can of whole tomatoes and one can of crushed tomatoes.  A splash of pinot noir, and left that baby on to simmer for the rest of the day.  I did end up pureeing it a little bit with my hand blender because I know the girls prefer a smoother sauce.

In the beginning there were...garlic and onions.

Just put in whatever you have I guess?

This was pretty fun to try, even though rolling out the noodles was difficult.  Don and I had a "who's tougher" moment when he came up from working out and I was rolling my shoulders out from wielding the rolling pin.  In the end I am pretty sure I won because his workout just gives him physical, emotional, familial and psychological benefits while mine gives me homemade noodles!  The noodles lasted less than 24 hours in the house, and now I have a large jar of marinara to use the next time I make them.

Scarfing the scraps.  B approved of both noodles and sauce,
a glowing endorsement from this persnickety one.

The lighting was just 👌

Dinner!  Also they were right - we definitely needed a double batch. 
That is why Double Batch is my DJ name.

I had eight leftover egg whites so I made this chocolate pavlova the next day.  This is my go to recipe for leftover egg whites, and birthdays during cold months.  Deb's infallible recipe calls for six egg whites, and I had eight, so I just increased the other ingredients by the correct percentage using no math whatsoever.  Which is why my pavlova came out looking like this.  

Win win win!

That is a huge fluffy air brownie.

Note, if you can, the inch high gap between crust and gooey interior. 
Pretty sure that is because I messed up the bake.  No handshake from Paul Hollywood.