My Brain during the Summer

Reading has been winning over knitting this summer. Very possibly because of the gigantic project I just finished. For the last 2 weeks I've been reading Wally Lamb's book I Know This Much is True.

I loved this book but will not review it here. You can look at the site and decide if its for you or not.

There is a bit of Italian culture and history in the telling of the story. One of the characters is forced to work making pasta in Italy.

Because I am me, I had to know what this looked like so I watched this video.

 

Her hands are a dance. She was so seamlessly skilled, she made me believe I could do it to. The way that egg and flour magically makes dough amazes me. The sound and perceived texture of the fork beating the egg is irresistible to me.

Weekend-during-the-school-year-brain would have had good intentions but would have accepted the fact that it would be a rushed half-assed effort with Monday morning looming so close.

Summer-brain went to the grocery store around three p.m. I didn't worry about my inability to find semolina. I got distracted for a while at home and then went through the whole process at a relaxed pace from about 5:30-7:30 p.m. I added some olive oil and a bit of Parmesan/garlic bread dipping spices and it was dinner.

 

It tasted like pasta. It felt like I had written a hands on lesson plan for myself with this book. Had my own private book club of sorts. I may do it again. I'd like to try it exactly the way she did it. I'd like to practice rolling it a little thinner. Or maybe I won't, it doesn't matter much.

While I was able to imitate the mixing of ingredients, I Know this Much is True...