Friendly neighbors

Well, hello there! I though I would join my dear friend Britt in welcoming you (and us) to the blog. As I wait for my homemade pasta dough to rise - this may fall into the inedible catagory, stay tuned - I thought I would introduce myself and a charming antidote from my first recipe challenge.

As B mentioned, I am a winemaker, and firmly believe in wine's love affair with food, and my love affair with both. It's amazing for me that B and I would be doing this together, as we grew into our love of both food and wine together and are most seriously excited to share it with you. Food for me is about enjoying the moment, both seasonally and daily, and spending time with the people we love most in the world. Every recipe doesn't have to be a success, just an adventure, and a chance to learn more about ourselves and our present.

In that light, I would like to share a little story from the current Art of Simple Food recipe I am trying to conquer. I decided to make Spinach Lasagna (p. 270) tonight for a special friend (mainly because he promised to bring a bottle of wine to pair with it), which, being true to the recipe, calls for Fresh Pasta (p. 89), from scratch. After venturing to the store with an ingredient list, and sticking to the outside aisles, a la Michael Pollan, I came home ready to get started (Fresh Pasta has to rest for an HOUR, and it's already 7). What did I discover? No flour. Faced with the misery of heading back to the grocery store, I decided to visit my neighbors, 50's style. And, surprise? It was wonderful. Friendly, connecting, inquisitive - a 30 minute conversation with someone I hadn't seen in over a year. I told her what I was up to and she was excited, hopefull, and made me promise a taste.

Maybe food will bring us all together, eh? Now, back to the dough...