With this post I mark a full year of “regular” blogging. While this site has been up for more than eight years, my output had been largely erratic up until September 2014. Since then I have averaged one post every 2.23 days. At times I’ve wondered if committing fully-formed thoughts to these simulated pages is worth the trouble, then I randomly browse through the archives and come upon articles I have forgotten I wrote at all! What was I thinking then? Do my observations still hold true (if they ever did)? I can at least tell you they offer more insights into my personal journey as a home cook than any number of Throwback Thursdays on Facebook.
As with any anniversary (of sorts), I look forward to the future by dusting off the old… and the rusting. I finally take the pasta maker one sister gave me two (three?) years ago out of its box. Lord knows I never asked for one (I figured she had bought it for herself, realized she never really had time or reason to make fresh pasta, and threw it in the balikbayan box). I check if the oxidation has extended to the roller/cutter and can not quite decide if I should be thankful that it hasn’t, because then I have no excuse not to use it.
The first (and last) time I made fresh pasta was 25 years ago. We still had a bakery then so I had a lot of help. The pasta itself I remember being good, but not outstanding. What had impressed me the most was that it cooked really fast, almost like instant noodles. I didn’t know at the time that dried commercial pasta is 100% flour.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. To get rid of the rust and tarnish, I eschew commercial cleaners for the more familiar baking soda and vinegar. I don't savor the idea of my pasta dough infused with God-knows-what chemicals since washing the machine with water is out of the question. I’m a huge fan of baking soda as a cleanser, especially when I want to restore the sheen to my pots and pans. Together with vinegar, it works to unclog and deodorize drains. For the pasta maker, I make a paste from baking soda with a bit of water, dab it where needed, and let stand. After a few hours, I wipe off the “frosting” with soft cloth dipped in vinegar. The treatment doesn’t get rid of the worst spots of rust, but my contraption looks a lot less grungy now.
Up next, we’ll put the pasta machine through its paces, see what it can do.
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