Thomas Keller's Homemade Pasta

I didn't actually use that many eggs..because I didn't HAVE that many eggs, but I cut out a little flour and added back some of the egg whites for the additional needed moisture. 

My little dough ball :)

This was the first time I had used my pasta maker - I was kind of concerned that it would be a pain to operate.
It was actually really straightforward and fun!

I divided the dough ball into four smaller pieces and then ran those chunks through the press at increasingly finer thicknesses until I got the sheets where I wanted them. Then, you run the flattened sheets through the cutter blades - this machine had a fine angel hair/spaghetti setting, and a thicker linguine/fettucine-like setting.

So. Cool. :)
I put these balls in the fridge to dry out a bit, but I could have easily boiled them at this point. Fresh noodles are done WAY quicker than dried or store-bought pastas, and the texture and flavor are so much different it's almost like a totally different food.

I wasn't even drinking when I came up with this! :)
Pizza peel slid into the crack between the cabinet door and face and used to hang and dry pasta! This is the pasta I didn't boil right away - I'll be able to package this up and use it later. Way good!

Snowy Day

Woof..
So, the nighttime picture was actually from a couple weeks ago - we had a December snowstorm that was kind of pretty. Then we had THIS snowstorm last night that wasn't so pretty. Rain leading to snow which means icy roads and lots of delays. It would be an awfully nice snow day if I didn't live to close to work.. :S

Snowy Night

View from the solarium :)

Problem: Solved!

I can’t say enough how fortunate I’ve been to live in a smaller town throughout this process. This was reaffirmed yet again during Clog-pacolypse.

It turns out I had a pretty major clog in the drain line below the kitchen sink. The kitchen is, of course, one of the rooms built over the crawl space. Luckily for me, a local plumbing contractor was able to come over (within about five minutes of me calling, mind you) and assess the situation. They found a point in the line where the cast iron ‘main drain’ transitioned down to galvanized pipe and then down again to PVC. All the transitions in such a short span and some abandoned drain segments gave food particles and other junk a place to pile up, hence, a clog.

Not only was I impressed that they could wiggle back into the crawl space, but I was further impressed when they had dug out a portion of the pipe, cut out a section, and replaced it with a nice new section of PVC that streamlined the whole drainage situation. Replacing this area fixed my clog problem and – hopefully – fixed any future issues I may have. And it wasn’t crazy-expensive – triple bonus!

Trouble. Right here in River City..

As we speak, there’s a skinny little plumber man in my crawlspace cutting pipes and straightening out old drain lines that have started to show their flaws. Hopefully by the end of the day I’ll be able to shower without water pooling at my feet AND drain the water from my kitchen sink..

Solarium: Start to Finish!

This is what the house looked like in the listing when I bought it - cute right?

Nice little sitting room right inside the front door and adjacent to the living room.

Then I saw this. Everything might have been easier...if I hadn't seen this. ;)

So, naturally, we ripped everything apart..

..and fixed the things that needed fixed..

Here's mom/former roommate finishing up the last of the insulation. As with the rest of the house, the wiring was completely redone in the solarium, as was all the insulation, wallboard, wood floors, and trim..though, a lot of the woodwork throughout the house was salvaged.

Hooray for drywall!

..well..sort of. See, I got a deal on some really nice windows; so, rather than replace the two that were there, I decided to take it back to the way it looked it that damned old picture.

Finishing up the new windows and front door.

All in!

Testing out my new grilles :)

Trim is up and ready for sanding (which left dust ALL over the house), priming, and painting!

As of last night: all painted and ready to go! (As you can also see, the greenhouse is in full swing..)

Looks pretty good, if I do say!

NYE

New Year's Eve Eve was my classy night at home with a nice dinner, champagne, and my friend Megan. New Year's Eve was my not-so-classy night out on the town in Cedar Falls. I'll let you fill in the blanks on that one.. Both were good fun :)
Happy New Year, everyone!