Playing with food..

Do you ever find yourself doing this? Playing with it more rather, to gain a sense of satisfaction in the making of it over the actual consumption of it? Not that I would ever complain about the end (and hopefully edible) result. It's all good play, that kind of play that happens between the kitchen walls...

We have once again, an excess of eggs. It's a good position to be in. I positively detest buying eggs from the shops - I find they're always runny, never plump and they just don't fill my heart (belly?) with joy.

Excess eggs are fantastic to turn into pasta..

100g strong flour and 1 egg for each person for the dough, with a pinch of salt. 400-500g dough is plenty for us!

After finding myself attending to the (forever) needy goats (in the rain..again), I was quite put off with the idea  of rolling out that dough and cooking it in a mere 15 mins before hubby came home and would be hoping to eat before heading back out the door shortly thereafter to collect the eldest from her activity. It's a tight schedule here some nights..and so tempted was I to pull out the exciting new pasta shapes that were calling to me from the pantry...

However! I gave it a go, clamped the roller on the benchtop and put the water on to boil while I rolled. It's very quick once you get into the groove of it! The great thing about fresh pasta is it cooks in a much shorter time than it's dried cousin..which meant I had an extra few minutes up my sleeve for hubby to make it to that activity on time..

Deadline made. And belly joyous. 

Bread.
Do you make it?
Do you make it regularly?

I am struggling with breadmaking this winter. We are using a separate room for living in and as a result the kitchen in now quite chilly! After returning home from our bakery visit earlier in the week I was determined to make more of an effort on the bread front. Particularly sourdough which is (usually) such a forgiving bread and so time friendly...

Spelt experiments took place, although a little on the 'bricky' side. Perhaps a starter that was too young? Maybe some more feeds for it to (hopefully) produce a more robust version?

Ughh..bricky breads are actually ok, when they're eaten warm. Not so nice the next day, oh no no no!

Scones are always fun to make, especially when one has just found a new/old egg beater at the op-shop and just wants to whip up a small cup of cream for fun. Something to put whipped cream on would be  good....

{lemonade scones w/four berry jam}

So good. To be honest, I think anything would be good when acting as a carrier for some jam and cream. Even perhaps, a bricky loaf? Yes, even one of those, ahem.

Tween size people like to play in the kitchen too..

A rare moment of teamwork - one whisks while the other adds

They stand and stir, melt and whisk and pause to lick the spoons at the end. The result is a ridiculously rich chocolate mousse that makes the belly feel less than joyous, although does however, result in the tastebuds screaming for more. Such a dilemma! Oh, dear.

We love a pizza night here. It's just a naturally playful food, rolling, slapping, throwing, flipping and so on..

..and then make way for the toppings!

Using some new paddles I picked up recently made the experience even more playful. The trick for easy removal of the pizza onto the oven stone? Semolina. Plenty of semolina. Hubby is a natural now, it's all about technique.

Right now I'm off to go and play with some lemon rind, a little honey and hot water after remembering a tip from Kim. I have an awful feeling there is a sore throat coming on..and apparently relief is all in the peel..

What foods have you been playing with recently?