Monday, November 23, 2009

A Recipe for Fun!

My friend Amy and I have known each other since before our children were born. Our eldest children used to have playdates while they were still in diapers. Although we had managed to visit each other through the years none of our kids had seen each other for more than 7 years. But on Saturday Amy and her wild things came to our house.
My middle son Matt cleaned out a pumpkin early that morning and roasted the pieces in the oven.

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When our friends came over that afternoon the house had an interesting aroma of roasted pumpkin and pizza! We all ate some pizza and the teen girls started playing with Luca.
At first he was shy! But soon he realized that playing with two teen girls wasn't so bad, and he could be the center of attention.

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We soon headed to a park very near our house where the shenannigans began.

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Some of them thought they were mountain goats.

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"Come on girl, you can make it!"

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There was some posing.

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...and more posing.

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And in the end, it was the biggest and coolest wild things that remained on the top of the mountain.

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Then it was time to say good bye to the playground.


And I commenced with the cooking bootcamp! Well why not? I love getting kids in the kitchen with me, and everyone enjoyed a turn. We took the pumpkin that M had roasted and scooped out the pulp away from the peel, and then pureed it. To that we added a few eggs, some ricotta cheese, nutmeg, salt and parmesan to make a filling for tortellini. We made the pasta ...

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These girls said they felt like an Italian grandma!

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And everyone got the chance to fill and shape by hand the tortellini.

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We boiled our tortellini which by the way wanted to stay stuck together all in one lump. Luckily for us the water separated the tortellini and it turned out nicely. We served it very simply, with butter and fresh sage and a sprinkle of parmesan for those who wanted it.

The next morning, we made homemade crepes, filled with Nutella, bananas, blueberries, and strawberries, and as much whipped cream as anyone wanted...

Little Luca said it was very good!

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9 comments:

  1. Wow! I wish I could make pasta like that! My kids LOVE ravioli and tortellini. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a pasta thing like that.

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  2. Chissà quanto vi sieti divertiti, avrei voluto essere li con voi.Io e Diocleziano abbiamo visualizzato il blog di tua mamma e le abbimo fatto i complimenti, ci sono delle foto meravigliose.
    Un abbraccio Daniela.

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  3. I love pumpkin's tortellini! we eat them quite often, even if the fill is a little bit different.
    To tell you the truth the name should be "tortelloni" (that means big tortellini) because they're bigger that the ones you usually fill with meat and eat in the meath broth, but from the yummy photos I perfectly understand what were you doing^^.
    next step for you: doing pasta with rollpin!! XD XD

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  4. It looks Delicious! And I wish I had some of their Energy!Hahaa...Happy night!hughugs

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  5. Very nice to see the kids and elders all having total fun

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  6. It is so nice to see a beautiful family all together cooking!!
    Enjoy, Happy Holidays!!

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  7. Buon Natale e Felice 2010,
    Daniela e Diocleziano.

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  8. Gail- I wish you had been there too Mom!

    McVal- I really think your kids would find it enjoyable- making all that pasta and then eating it! :)

    Daniela- Grazie! Quando volete, venite!

    Claudia- you are very astute. We tried for tortellini, but the truth is they became tortelloni! :) ha ha, but still tasted great!

    Donna- hugs to you too!

    Rajesh- I agree, the family fun is what the best memories are made of.

    Chef Chuck- Thank you and I hope you and yours also enjoyed happy holidays.

    Daniela- Grazie! Auguri anche a voi!

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