Girls Night: Making Pasta!

It is said the best thing a man can do for his health is to find a woman to share his life. The best thing for a woman's health, as it turns out, is to forge friendships with women. (This is not to say my relationship with Steve doesn't bring me happiness! It has been one of the most joyful happenings of my life.) Part of what has been most challenging about moving here is losing daily contact with my mother, grandmother, sister, aunts, cousins and friends. Not surprisingly, when Steve mentioned he had some female colleagues anxious to meet me, I was delighted! Facing several days with him at a conference in DC made me nervous, but it was also the perfect opportunity to get to know some lovely hens. 


Sara Compion is a grad student in sociology from Pretoria, South Africa, and she owns a pasta maker she offered to bring over last night. Sophie Roberts, a professor at UK specializing in North African Jewish Studies, and Cindy Jong, a professor of Math Education, also came and brought wine and dessert. We started by making the dough: basically flour, water & egg:

Cindy & Sophie: Apparently, frenzied-looking intensity helps immensely, because Sophie's dough was gorgeous. She was also a dab-hand at pasta rolling. Some talents go unrealized for decades.

Sara brought some clothes hangers to let the dough sit. I suggested a laundry rack.

I missed a few photos at this point. Cindy and I were charged with this responsibility of grinding out the pasta from the flat dough sheets, and I found it wildly gratifying. Here is a record of the final product:

All kinds of naughtiness and ribaldry ensued.