My First Daring Bakers Challenge – Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

I discover The Daring Bakers some months ago through blog hopping! I was very tempted to join then…but did not have the courage, and was afraid of commitment. Last month, I finally gave in and signed up to be a member.

I was surprised by the choice when the March challenge was revealed. I was expecting a dessert, rather than a savory dish. However, I am still happy with the idea. I have only eaten lasagna a couple of times, and have only made it ONCE, many, many years ago. I had used the store bought dried pasta.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

I read and read through the recipe, and was excited as it calls for home made Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde). At the same time, I felt intimidated by the fact that I’ll be making fresh pasta from scratch! So, as a procrastinator, I drag and drag, until today! :P What a embarrassing way for me to start the challenge with the group! My family, on the other hand, was all excited, especially my “cheesy-pasta-lover” daughter.

All recipes are from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (published by William Morrow and Company Inc., 1992). You can find the recipe HERE.

The main challenge was to make hand-made pasta using rolling pin! Hrmp…I am very thankful that Nd (Lee) had given me a pasta attachment to my Kitchen Aid few Christmas back. I used my KA to begin mixing the ingredients for the pasta, but not all of the flour, since I would still like my KA to be working for other baking/mixing projects (my KA was “jumping” (with excitement maybe?) on the counter by the time half of the flour was incorporated). I hand knead the dough and slowly incorporate the rest of the flour, a little at the time. It was HARD WORK, but I know it’d be worth it at the end.

Since I started the process at 10:30pm, I did not wait for it to rest and roll out the dough. Instead, I wrapped the dough with double layer of cling wrap and store it in the fridge. The next morning, I took it out from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. I started rolling the dough with the pasta attachment with the setting on #1 for about 5-6 times, then the rest of the settings 2-3 times each. I did skip setting #5 though. I also realized that it helps to prevent the dough from tearing by slightly rolling down the dough with a rolling pin before you feed it through the attachment. I AM amazed how beautiful the color of the pasta turns out --- it is exactly the color Yesmin picked when painted her study table. ;)

On the right is the dough after going through the pasta machine 3 times on setting #1. The dough on the left is the dough that is ready. Look at the difference and the beautiful green!

Lucas was excited and thought it was funny when I hung the pasta on the back of our dining chairs to dry. (Note to husband: I need a pasta drying rack!!! ;P)

The process of making the pasta was definitely a little more work than what I’d usually do. However, the feeling of accomplishing “home-made pasta from scratch” is something else! :) And of course without a doubt, the TASTE is worth the effort. I do have to say that, if you plan on making this whole recipe, it is best to NOT do what I did – attempting to make EVERYTHING in just one day. I definitely have poor time management and planning. However, like stated in the recipe, the Ragu sauce and the Béchamel sauce can be made ahead of time, and the pasta can be made a day ahead.

I did make some changes on the recipe with what I have, and what I could not find in the store. These are some changes to the original recipe I made:

• I used 3 large eggs, instead of 2 jumbo eggs
• I did use the whole 10oz package of frozen chopped spinach - after squeezing out the water, there is only about 6 oz left! :P
• I couldn't find veal in 3 different grocery store here, so, I substitute the 4 oz veal for 2 oz of ground beef and 2 oz of ground lamb! ;P
• I used one can (14.5oz) of whole peeled tomatoes
  

Does it taste good? The pictures below says it all! :)

Yesmin who drags eating spinach, was amazed that the pasta was made WITH spinach! :)

Would I make it again? Yes, but with better planning...and maybe use ground turkey for most part of the Ragu sauce (for a less meaty, fatty taste). I would probably try to make the Spinach Egg pasta more often THAN the lasagna, since it taste wonderful, and I get to squeeze in spinach to our meal! :)

Manga Artist

Yesmin's latest art obsession is the Manga style. She recently took a cartooning class through the rec center with a instructor who is also a Manga fan! She learn a lot from him and for 7 weeks in a row, we could see improvement. She's on the waiting list for the next session...in the mean time, we bought a couple of Christopher Hart's reference books for her, and we also found some different copies in the local library :)

Remembering 2008 - yes, yes, it's WAY over due! :P

This, as you know, is an extremely belated post. I was gonna abandon it...but, there are things that I feel like, though they weren't some happy news that I would wished for, still, I'd like to take the time to remember them...so, this was what I wrote, before the year 2009 began!

"I still can't believe the year is coming to the end. Seriously, I'm in some ways, not ready for 2009, because I still have a long list of things that I haven't got done (as usual). But on the other hand, I am looking forward to 2009...

2008 started with a horrible, horrible news I got from a friend back in Malaysia. One of our college friends (back in Metropolitan College days), Edwin Lee, was killed in a motorbike accident. He was only one year younger than I am. Thought we didn't hung out outside of college, we were the "Chor Tai Ti" (sort of like a Chinese poker game (??)) "gang" who used to hang out at the end of the cafeteria. As Nd (Lee) has remembered that it was Edwin who came to him and asked if he wanted to perform/form a band. I remembered him as one of those guys who would take care of his friends. That was in January.

Then came February. One of the neighbors I am closest to, lost her dad to cancer. We already knew he was diagnosed with cancer the year before. He was very upbeat, no matter what the side effects he gets from the chemotherapy, he always stayed positive.

Then came May. Another friend back home, sadly lost his new born daughter, Seraphine, to Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. This, especially hit me real hard as a parent. Seraphine was 2 days old.

At the end of July, few weeks after we send our passports to the embassy for renewal (which takes up to 4 months to process), Nd's (Lee) lost his maternal grandma due to old age. I met her a couple of times. She reminded me of my paternal grandma. She wore kebaya, and she was the very easy going type of person. I think I did gave her a good impression when I first met her while Nd (Lee) and I were dating! :) I am glad that our kids got to meet her the last time we were back...she couldn't stop giving them kisses! :)

Then in October, we got another news from Malaysia, another college friend (we attended Inti College and U. of Kentucky together), Ben Tan, whom we went out to dinner with when we last went home, passed away due to thyroid cancer...he was also only one year younger than I am. Ben was one of those that would not hold back what he wanna say. The last time we saw him at the dinner, he was recovering from surgery to his throat. He could barely talk, but still, he made sure to tell me that I have gain weight! :P THAT, is Ben.

These are the type of news I am so done with!! I have never, never, ever lost so many friends/family in just one year! I didn't want any more of this sort of heart breaking news...I can't deal with another one... NO, not this year...no more please....

Oh, and in between all of that, a good friend that I have grown to depend on (you know who YOU ARE ;P ) moved back to her home state, some 6 hours away!

On the lighter side of 2008...

Before the school year ended, I was so worried what I was going to do with the 2 kids staying at home all day for almost 3 months. I was so sure they were going to rip each other apart. However, they proof me wrong. The first 2 months of Summer holidays, they have spent so much time playing together. They actually got along so well, I was in shocked! But of course, good things don't last long...by the end of 2nd month, they started arguing, and getting on each others nerves. Well, at least, that further proof to me that they ARE, after all, SIBLINGS! :)

Yesmin has been improving in her Chinese class. I discover that whenever I am working with her on her Chinese lessons, she's tired and sleepy...I used to yelled at her for not listening...then I discover that making her run around the house a couple of times, wakes her up! She liked it because it wasn't a "punishment"...in fact, she finds it fun and is more alert after the running to stay focus! She even scored 100% twice in her quiz and mid term! We reward here with $1 for each test, and allowed her to pick where she wanted to go for dinner. :)

Lucas was finally fully potty trained (refer to my older post on potty training)!!

I kept my words... on Christmas day,I made sure we took time out as a whole family, went across the street to visit our elderly couple neighbor. Since we were snowed in those couple of days, we weren't even sure if we were gonna have a special dinner for Christmas. I invited them to come over for dinner on Christmas (some other neighbors also invited them). It was their first time after having their 1st child some 50 something years ago, they will be celebrating by themselves! None of the kids could come here and they can't get out either! They declined, cos' one of their sons had ordered a beef shank online, and they were gonna have that. But I know, and I can tell that they were feeling lonely...I told myself that WE gotta go over and visit with them...visiting doesn't have to be eating a meal together. It made me feel really good, when I hear how excited they were to see us. =)

Other than that, I think everything else was pretty much the same...and I am just thankful that everyone is healthy, with just some cough and cold now and then, and that Nd (Lee) still has his job (there are lay offs every where)."

So, there it is --- my post for the year 2008!!! Phew...*wiping my sweaty forehead* :P

Cupcakes

Last Friday, we went to check out a Wu Shu center (recommended by a friend) in the Pearl District. Diana and her son Michael came with us. As we driving down NW17th Ave, looking for the center, we passed by a cupcake shop. Everyone agreed after our visit to the WuShu center, we'd stop by this place! :P

It's called Saint Cupcake. It's a cute little shop with just a handful of tables. There were a few selections of cupcakes...the kids obviously went for the Chocolate ones, and I, for my favorite flavor - carrot cake. At first I didn't get any for Nd(Lee) --- what a bad wife huh?! Then Diana just had to make me feel bad...so I got him one too! When I was told how much it was, I was stunned! I had expected it be expensive...but NOT THIS expensive!!! The 4 cupcakes that I got, 3 standard size, one mini was $8.75!!! Can you believe that? (there were no price list in the shop...not that I was aware of, at least) I had gone to another cupcake shop before some where else...but it didn't cost THIS much! Thank God it didn't taste BAD :P

Anyway, I love the way the box opens. Very fancy...guess that IS why the cupcakes were $2.50! ;) And most interesting of all, before I threw away the box (yup, I threw away...if there weren't any icing on it, I, who like to keep everything...WOULD keep the box! ;P), this is what it's printed at the bottom of it!!

4-Year- old & Wii Fit!!!!

So, I got Wii Fit for my birthday. I LOVE IT, and so do the kids. Lucas has been asking to do the "snowboard" (ski jump) game today. So tonight, we put him on. We added his Mii onto the program. He went through the body test and the result is a SKINNY Mii of him! When it came to his Wii Fit age (a measure of his center of balance, Body Mass Index (BMI) and body control, which he's got no clue what he was supposed to do), MY FOUR YEAR OLD IS 27 YEARS OLD!!! :P

Making Her Bed

When she was four or five, she has started making her bed --- with some help. When she was in kindergarten/ 1st grade (standard one), she gets rewarded if she makes her bed without me telling her to. Of course by the end of 1st grade, she was expected to make her own bed everyday, unless we were getting late for the bus, which happens every now and then. I realized she often arrange her pillows/soft toys differently...depending on her mood. Today, I was in there, and I notice this arrangement! It just caught my eyes! I just think is so darn cute!!! She usually hides her Mr. Monkey (please pretend you don't know about "him", cos' she'll hate me for mentioning! :P ) under SOMEWHERE...but today, though you can barely see him, but he's peeking over the pillow, with all of his other "friends"! =)

Shoe Size

When I first came to U.S. in 1996, I was wearing size 5.5 to 6. Twelve years, 2 kids and some extra 30 over pounds later, I am wearing size 7.5 to 8!!! Mind you, I am only 5ft 2 --- kinda like Mini Mouse - tiny with BIG FEET!

Anyway, we're planning to go skiing at White Pass, WA on Spring Break. We went there last year and loved it. My neighbor had given me a pair of her daughter's snow boots years ago, but it's insulation is starting to wear off. So, I decided to go hunt for a new pair now, since most of them should be on some sort of discount (end of season sales). I was at Joe's the past weekend. Choices and sizes are limited by now. I found a pair that was my size, but the price was $96! I looked around at the kid's section, and found this pair ---


--- looks better than the adult one and it's $64! I looked for the largest size they have, which is youth size 6. I cross my fingers that I'd fit. I asked the sales rep for a pair of ski socks to try on...and woohooo! My BIG FEET still fit in KIDDY size!!! Hoooray, I NEVER thought I can still wear the youth size! From now on, I will have to always consider shopping at the youth's isles when buying shoes...u know how much I can save???!!

Hoppy Burpday to ME!!! ;)

34 years ago, sometime in the middle of the night, I was born!! Seems like all my dad remembered was that he was VERY HUNGRY! :P He went to the "Bak Kut Teh" store across the street and managed to have the LAST bowl of it! As for my mom, she remembers that through out the whole pregnancy with me, I was PICKY, PICKY, PICKY! She couldn't drink milk, couldn't not eat any fruits, worst of all, all she craved for was Hokkian Char--- no wonder I have HORRIBLE teeth!!! :P

This year, I almost forgot about my birthday until my neighbor asked me what I was gonna do on my b-day a week before! I then quickly reminded my husband, knowing he'd forget too! :P I gotta say that I really enjoyed my birthday this year. Last year's birthday was miserable! I remembered clearly, Lucas was sick, I was recovering from a cough & cold, on top of the allergy, and I was teaching the after school cake decorating club! Aii ya-ya. I don't think I even made myself a birthday "dessert." 3 years ago, I decided that I didn't want Nd(Lee) to buy me a cake anymore (unless I'm sick and not up for making anything) ...as we are not exactly cake lovers, plus the store bought cakes are usually too sweet for us. Instead, I make dessert that I like best...or in the mood for. Same for Nd(Lee)...no more birthday cakes. This year, I chose to make myself Birthday tartlets.


I am so lucky to have friends to celebrate with me too!!! We were struggling to come up with a time where everyone was available for lunch... so I decided to have everyone come over to my place and P-A-R-T-Y!!! ;) They brought lunch & snacks over, and we all ate, and ate, and ate, and yak, and yak, and yak...while Zack and Lucas played happily with the Thomas and friends the other room. I definitely had a GGGGREAT time with the ladies! Silly Diana wanted me to be "princess of the day"...she even went and bought that princess napkins!!! Ya right, I am SUCH a princess! :P hahhahaa....She's just so sweet! We "partied" the "Mommy" style until the older kids got off from school! It was a really really fun day!

Nd (Lee) actually managed to get off work early...I was gonna make frozen ravioli for dinner, and he called and asked what I wanted for dinner. We end up having carry out from Chipotle for dinner and sang Happy Birthday song. Lucas just gobble up the tartlet (he only wanted raspberry and the tangerin on his, picky, picky, picky...wonder like WHO?!), while Yesmin, SLOWLY savor hers --- taking little bites!

Like I said, knowing he'd forget my birthday, I bet he bought my present LAST minute! ;) While we set up dinner, Nd(Lee) was scrabbling to "wrap" my present! :P Poor guy! I told him to just forget wraping it and save a tree! ;P He (and the kids) got me a Wii Fit!!! Wooohhooo! However, I have to say...I have developed a love-hate relationship with it! Arrgghhh! :P

Lastly, I just wanna say that I am very, very, very lucky to have so many great friends and great family! :) THANKS, U ALL!!! xoxoxoxxo...

The family photo

The "princess" napkins

Zack & Lucas watching Thomas and the Magic Railroad

THE P-A-R-T-Y
From R-L: Diana, Tina, Echo, Abeer, Me and Zack