Giada makes it look too easy

So I am behind on posting this, but I have to write about my experience making homemade ravioli...

now we are talking homemade too...homemade marinara (which is sooooo worth it. fresh, delicious, with that tang of REAL tomatoes...nooom) ...homemade dough (so easy) and homemade ricotta filling.

Now outside of their relative detectability I only have one funny story to impart and that i my rather sad attempt at making the dough by hand. I have made dough before hundreds of times (that 100's translates roughly into about 20) but always in the food processor. This process is easy and worth it if you have the extra ten minutes and the pasta you are making is simple enough in flavor to really let the fresh taste stand out. HOWEVER...

I had the brilliant idea that I would try it without the aid of modern machinery, and instead opt to make it the "old fashioned" way. You know the drill I'm sure:
eggs resting in a bowl made of flour, like a volcano of chicken fetus, stirred gently, soft music playing as the dough comes together and is eventually kneaded in a wholely organic if not beautiful way...man and his connection with the food he makes...an almost sensual gentle but firm gesture...

let me stop here. I'm sure you know the drill...but let me impart my own accounting of this event. Chris is helping me by mixing our ricotta filling, and asks me right as I'm about to mix in my eggs how to fold...the rest goes like this...

"well you basically, ..hang on....expletive...expletive ...my egg is escaping...ahh...expletive expletive expletive ...ahhhhhhhhhhh...expletive ..."
etc

Now I did eventually get my dough under control, and hte pasta was fabulous but sufice to say I may abandon my food is a sensual process idea in lew of hte reality that while I may not be half bad at this cooking business....I am not very graceful

meal over-all initally recieved a 7 (ouch) on the Chris scale, but he later explaine das I tried to cut myself with my ravioli (harder then it looks) that he only meant our choice in filling, that it was bland. Amended vote to a 9 when asked how out ricotta filled ravioli ranked when judged as Ricotta filled ravioli not just ravioli in general....
vow to be more clear on expectations next time and to up medication as to be more prepared for Chris's German Olympic judge standards

Start Small ....with Shrimp

So unofficially my first recipe was and at the same time was not Spiced Shrimp, Mango and Spinach salad. Let me explain:
I did in fact make this today [spicy shrimp with lime, mango puree and cilantro pan-cooked and served over a spinach salad with marinated onion] and it was in fact delicious. However, the true first time around was last week when I made it with Chris (culinary critic and boyfriend extraordinaire). And it definitely got at least an 8 on the Chris scale*. It was a response to a Saturday night Shrimp crisis. He came over, we wanted a delicious last minute dinner. We had shrimp.
Scampi? Too obvious
Pasta? too heavy
So I found this recipe and all over it was a success.Just the right amount of spicy, just the right amount of acid....Paired well with Landshark


* funny story here. The Chris-Scale is the scale by which I measure all of my recipes. Now this would not be worth mentioning except save for this scene of dialogue:
Chris: Babydoll, that dinner was delicious
Me: We should rate all the meals I make you try
Chris: We should
Me: ohh ohh...do you want to make a graph
Chris: Alexandra, I'm an engineer....Hell yea I want to make a graph!!