.SOMETIMES RAW.

Have you ever seen the movie: Eat Pray Love?  The scene when Julia Robert eats this awesome plate of pasta on her journey in Italy? The way she enjoys it? Wow! I love pasta, and so does my family. My son enjoys the pasta mostly plain – weird yes, but hey. I have been buying pasta forever, all types of it. Whole wheat, black pasta, spinach pasta, regular pasta, pasta with eggs and without, you name it. At some point I thought I am going to make my own pasta. Just to see if it tastes as close as the “fresh” pasta you can buy in the refrigerator section at the supermarket. Well, I must say that MY pasta was so much better and I knew 100% what was in it which also means no preservatives.

Here is my recipe in easy steps: 

Pasta Maker Roller Machine           or       A simple rolling pin

So, let’s start: 

Ingredient for 4 people:

5 eggs

1.1 lbs flour (500g Mehl) 

pinch of salt

Yep! THIS is IT! 

You put the flour into a bowl. Put a hole in the middle of the flour (like a volcano) and put one egg after the other into it.

Now take a fork and mix the eggs slowly into the flour. Then kneel the dough with your hand on a floured surface. This is important, otherwise your dough will stick to the table. It has to be a soft, tender dough so you have to kneel it for some time. Now divide the dough in 3-4 parts. If you have the feeling that the dough is too dry and won’t stick together nicely, add one tablespoon of water. Then kneel again. If necessary add another one obviously. If the dough appears to be too soft add one tablespoon of flour. Now let dough rest for at lest 15 minutes by putting it in a bowl and cover it with a dish towel. This step is necessary because it allows the moisture from the eggs (and water if you added some) to distribute nicely throughout the dough. This makes it easier for you to work with afterwards. Your dough should look somewhat like this: 

Now divide the dough into six even portions. You work with one piece of dough at a time so you might keep the other ones covered with the dish towel so they won’t dry out. Take the piece of dough you are working with and put some flour on it so it is not sticky. My mom has the Original Italian Pasta Maker at home but for this recipe I used my rolling pin. You have to roll over the dough several times until desired thinness is reached. (The thinner dough is, the faster it will be cooked!) Whenever your dough becomes too long to roll out, simply cut in half and keep on rolling. If too sticky, add some more flour. Roll out all your dough portions. It should look somewhat like this: 

Now start cutting your dough. You can be all creative here, however you want your pasta to look. You can even form ravioli and stuff them with spinach, cheese whatever you like. I just cut mine into long thicker strips which is very easy. 

I let the cut pasta dry a bit on a clean dish towels until I cut the remaining dough. This is it. Now bring a pot of water to a boil, add one tablespoon of salt and put as much pasta in as you like. You can put the rest in the fridge if you use it in the next couple of days again or you dry it and store it in a bag. 

Enjoy! 

“Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language” – Haruki Murakami. 

Murakami – I have read three books by him so far (this, this and that) and I must say I am impressed with “Colorless Tsukuro Tazaki” because it is simply so different from everything else I have read by him. It is just written under a complete different light; however, it possesses most of Murakami’s essentials. If you are a Murakami fan you know what I mean: the sexual fantasies, consciousness and subconsciousness of the characters, real symbolic dreams and of course a lot of classical music and jazz. 

The story: Tsukuru Tasaki is part of a group of five friends who all represent a color [their Japanese names], a talent or a quality. Except for Tsukuru [who is just ‘the builder’] – or this is how he feels almost throughout the book. An event happens and none of his friends want to see or talk to him again without explaining to him why. He is very affected by this, depressed and suicidal and decides to leave to Tokyo where he starts school to become an engineer to build train stations which is his true passion.

“Because I have no sense of self. I have no personality, no brilliant color. I have nothing to offer. That’s always been my problem. I feel like an empty vessel. I have a shape, I guess, as a container, but there’s nothing inside….” 

It seems throughout the book that he did not only lose his four friends but that he is also unable to make new friendships simply because he is afraid of rejection. So he lives his days by going to work and back home, following a somewhat steady routine. So far it made me think if there was a time in my own life when I struggled to fit in. When I had this feeling of not belonging or this feeling that I am not good enough for this group of “friends” I was part of. It reminded me of a particular time in high school so I could relate to Tsukuru and his struggles.  When I started the book I was shocked how simple the story and language are; there was just nothing complex in it at all. But I think that it is not so much about the plot or said language. It is more about making the reader feel how Tsukuru suffered. How lonely and desperate he felt up to the point of wanting to killing himself. When you read the book you do not have to overanalyze or try to find explanations for everything. Reading the book makes you go with the flow of this relaxing soft melody that continues throughout the book and lets you experience Tsukuru’s misery, feelings, thoughts and love. 

I mentioned jazz and classical music before which are so significant for Murakami work. Throughout the book he mentions this classical piece by Franz Liszt called “Years of Pilgrimage – Le mal du pays”.  Usually when I read a book and the author mentions a song I google it and let it play in the background while I read this certain passage. I did the same with this book. It is magical. This is how the author felt when he wrote this part of the book or this is how the person described in the book feels right here and now I believe. 

One thing I want to mention without giving too much of the story away is that besides depression and loneliness Tsukuru met Sara, who becomes a really good friend, guide and someone who makes him realize that he can love and trust again and open his hearts to something new even though he has been hurt so badly. Sara helped him to confront his fears which was a wonderful thing to read. What was also beautiful is how he describes Finland – yes, he travels there but you have to find out for yourself why. (It definitely makes me want to fly there and discover this awesome country where it is still bright outside at 10pm). 

“The air felt purer here than in Helsinki, like it was freshly made. A gentle breeze rusted the leaves of the white birches, and the boat made an occasional clatter as it slapped again the pier. Birds cried out somewhere, with clear, concise calls”. 

Murakami is in my opinion a genius writing about all these emotions that make you suffer with Tsukuru. I don’t know what color I would represent in Murakami’s book but I do know that life is just this continuous search of experiences and dreams to make our life on this planet earth as colorful and awesome as possible. 

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Six months ago I started this blog and to sit down every morning or evening to write has been a constant in my life ever since. I try to write an article every day if time permits it. I have a plethora of ideas but time management is something different these days. I spend my afternoons at the playground, at the aquarium or at the park these days which is okay. If you love writing so much you will find time or will make time somehow to make writing possible for you. Easy as that. Looking at my blog editorial planner I have planned a lot of fun stuff so far for my readers. I just enjoy what writing has meant to me on a personal level. It just makes me happy on a daily basis. Everything I basically do could be a possible article. All the books I read are going to be book reviews (unless they suck – well even then I will write about them so you might not consider buying them ha!). Things I buy, things I love, things we do together, things I cook – there is simply so much for me to share. 

Blogging has changed me and writing has forced some sort of discipline in my life. I know I do “have” to sit down and write something because people love to read my stuff and I want to share what I experienced and live. In the beginning I thought I can have a glass of wine while writing (or two) and have some music playing in the background. Well what it all boiled down to is that I have to sit quietly on my chair usually all alone with nobody to disturb me in front of a white page blog screen. This is where and how it all starts. I read this quote by Dawson Trotman once which said, “The greatest time wasted is the time getting started.” Well, I have to say he was right. I spend so much time trying to figure out how to articulate my opinions that I was literally wasting time. Now all I do is write down what comes to my mind – sometimes research it or change it if necessary. The key is to write things down as I observe them. I do it the old fashioned way and keep pencil and paper with me usually at all times. Hey, you never know. 😀 

I like how I personally grow through writing and how I learn new things about it on a daily basis. I have “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk usually opened up right next to me while I write. This book has been recommended to me by my Literature professor in college and it was and still is very helpful to me. Looking back through all my posts I can see how my writing has already changed and more how I have changed. There is still so much room for improvement and so much more to accomplish that I keep looking forward to new writing adventures and challenges.