It'll Change Your Life

   As I begin the month of November and a new adventure in gluttony I wanted to start by talking about my focus. The focus of this month will be pasta. I know that I had originally planned to do ceviche after fried chicken  to give my body a bit of recovery time, but I had to make the change.  First, ceviche is really not something I think I will enjoy as much in the colder months and I also don't feel it will hold much of a challenge. If I was able to eat fried chicken in 3 different places in a little over two hours, I could probably eat ceviche twelve times in a day easily.I will do a ceviche month in the spring though.
   I can remember of course my first times eating pasta, but the more significant were the first times eating fresh pasta. Fresh pasta will change your life. I still have a clear image of the tiny girl who worked in the basement of one of the places I used to work. She had the coolest job in the world if you asked me. Spending her day churning out all of these interesting shapes and sizes. I have clear "flavor memories" of things like butternut squash agnolotti, red wine rissotto with shaved chocolate and bucatini carbonara.
   I can recall the first times I tried making pasta at home. The flavor was good, but the technique needed work. I rolled pasta with a rolling pin until my forearms were sore. I later bought one of my greastes kitchen tools, a pasta machine. That made things much easier. I also remember how much better things got when I got my hands on Marc Vetri's cookbook and later Michael Rhulman's. These two are still  my favorite cookbooks I own.
   This month will follow the typical format for my blog. A minimum of twenty different pasta dishes as well as some home experiments. I hope to talk a little more about technique and different styles and recipes. For those looking for the summary on fried chicken, it will be up this week. I will also be continuing a new part of my blog I call Fat Kid Food Crushes. As a way to break up the monotony of whatever I am focusing on for the month I will talk briefly about things that I discover or have loved for some time. I hope everyone continues to enjoy reading and as always if you have tips about places I should visit for pasta. let me know.

The Skinny Fat Kid