More Fabio!

Since the last time I talked about Fabio, I've watched almost all of the Top Chef episodes in existence. Fabio is still a little crazy, but definitely charming, and undoubtedly talented. And when it comes to cooking Italian food, there's no one I trust more to tell me what to do. His bolognese is delicious, simpler than the Williams-Sonoma version I used to make, and great to have on hand in the freezer. I made it two weeks in a row because I couldn't get enough.

The second batch was for Jacob, and we made a gigantic batch of fresh pasta. That's a lot of pasta. I can't stress enough how much more enjoyable rolling pasta is with a helper. I've actually been faithful to Stephanie Izard's pasta recipe, sorry Fabs.

Also thanks to Fabio, I broke down my first chicken. If ever there was a chance of me becoming a vegetarian (a dirty word in the Riddell family), it's gone now. I was getting really frustrated as I was hacking away at the chicken with a not-sharp-enough knife, but it is totally worth it to know that I have prime chicken stock making parts just waiting in my freezer. The whole chicken went into a batch of Mary's famous chicken pot pies. Now a whole chicken in every batch!

If anyone is curious, I got a couple new salad plates from anthropologie, that I really love. Jacob works near a wonderful store in Highland Park, IL and when I go visit him at work I end up wandering around the store forever, admiring all the pretty things. I saw these plates and snatched them up right away. They must have been popular because the anthropologie website is sold out of the plates; only the tea cups are left in Old Havana and Tie-dye Ikat.

Sorry if this post lacks a little focus. I've been a little scatter-brained recently.