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Tagscarb loading
I like to think of food as having a place on this knitting blog, if only because it and knitting are the two passions in my life that use my hands. This weekend was a food-focused one.
My dear friend came in for a long weekend visit on Friday—we immediately went to dim sum for lunch. Saturday was devoted to this:
Yum. We transformed 20 ounces of Ghirardelli chocolate, plus some cocoa and flour and eggs, into a 4-layer chocolate cake. We considered some more complex recipes but ultimately wanted a basic, good, decadent, “sinful” chocolate cake. We found it here. (We used 2 eight-inch pans instead of 3, then cut each layer in half.) It became denser and more chocolatey upon refrigeration, but I didn’t take any pictures after that. We ate it for breakfast and dessert every day of the weekend (there’s just a little bit left).
On Sunday, we did this:
(Two batches, one for each of us. Happily, they came out identically. She’s showing the incorporating of egg into flour, and I’m an example of kneading.) Which became this:
After 6 hours of intense work, we had made a ton of our own pasta from scratch. I forgot to take any photos of the spinach-filled ravioli that we made first. Then it was beet-filled tortellini, and we finished up with straight-up fettucine and angel hair. While the dough rested, we made the fillings and cooked a tomato sauce from scratch, using farmers’ market tomatoes and even the food mill.
Dinner that night was a 3-pasta affair: Spinach ravioli with cream sauce, beet tortellini with butter, and fettucine with tomato sauce. Everything was awesome.
Monday night we went to Alma de Cuba, which rocked. Last night we heated up leftovers and noshed over the course of hours. (“The pork course” will now be a running joke, after we reheated the remaining half of her pork entree from Alma de Cuba and devoured it.) And throughout the whole weekend, we ate tons of really good cheese and olives. Yay for cooking, and especially eating, with good friends!
9 Responses to carb loading
Is there anything in the world better than DiBruno’s???
I just finished dinner . . . but you’re making me hungry all over again. :) I’ve been waiting to see the mouse/picture trick – chocolate into cake has got to be the best use for it I’ve seen. It’s been years since I’ve made pasta like that (Gram taught me) but nothing tastes better. Yum. Sounds like a wonderful weekend.
PS: Thanks so much for the pattern. I can’t wait to get started on it!
I am STARVING now. My best friend Kara and I have food weekends too when we get to see each other, and it usually involves goat cheese. :)
I am excited about the sock pattern, too! Thanks!
How decadent! I wish the people that I cooked for got more excited when I choose to go “gourmet”. Their idea of fancy is Tater Tot Casserole.
Amy
That is one seriously fabulous chocolate cake. I think you would appreciate my brownie recipe – I’ll have to email it to you.
And that homemade pasta… oh yum.
I think you ate better than I did last weekend, and I was in ITALY last weekend. Everything looks fantastic.
There’s nothing better than good food and good friends!!!!!!
YAY for good food and good friends! That pile of chocolate–I’m having a hard time not running out to the store right now, never mind that it’s 8 AM.
Oh my gosh, what a yummy sounding weekend! I’ve been hoping for a yummy chocolate cake – I might need to try that recipe!