Meet Betty

I'm pleased to announce that we have a new member in our family: Betty, our food processor.  Betty came into our life on Wednesday, January 6th.  She has an adorable brushed-nickle base and weighs just about 30 lbs.  Healthy for her age, I'd say.  Here you can see a picture of Betty with freshly chopped sage, accompanied by a picture of the sage pre-chopped, for comparison and such.

We're still getting to know her, but it's safe to say that this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Last night Greg and I spent a few hours in the kitchen with Betty and our friend Dave, who mostly sat and politely expressed interest in the cooking process when we exclaimed how exciting something was.  The hours in the kitchen were spent making homemade ravioli for dinner.  Since Christmas Greg has been very excited about his new gift from me: a pasta maker attachment for our mixer.  Apparently we had agreed not to purchase gifts for one another (since Betty's adoption fees were quite exorbitant), but I honestly have no recollection of this conversation.  In the end, I do believe that Greg is quite pleased with his gift, as he has now made pasta from scratch on three separate occasions.  Last night's ravioli was made with a pepper pasta dough, filled with acorn squash, prosciutto, and sage, all topped with a butter-parsley sauce.  Mmm...delicious.

I have one last important announcement.  A year ago I purchased Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook because I love Ina, I adore France, and then of course, there's the food.  The problem has been, however, that I have attempted only two recipes from the entire book since I bought it.  They aren't all that difficult, but just a notch above Barefoot Contessa at Home--more ingredients, a few more steps...  This will no longer deter me!  I hereby declare that I will be making my way through this cookbook.  If anyone would like to join me, simply purchase a copy from your local or online bookstore.  Or maybe you could just come over for dinner one of these nights.  French cooking made even easier, here I come!