Abbiamo imparato a fare la pasta!

That’s right…we learned how to make pasta!

 

The Real Cool Cooking School

As an engagement gift, my siblings gave Todd and I gift certificates to the Bekins’ Real Cool Cooking School in Grand Haven.  Finally, last Tuesday, we went to learn how to make fresh pasta.  We chose this class because we figured it was something that we’d never attempt do on our own.

Chef Todd

Our instructor, Tom Reinhart, was trained at the Culinary Institue of America and did a great job of walking us rookies through the process.  There were about 8 people in the class and it was the perfect size to allow each of us to actively participate in the class.

Chef Tom teaching us the technique

Everything we learned was surprisingly simple.  After mixing up a batch of dough (eggs + flour + salt) we all got to work kneading and rolling out the dough with a pasta maker.  While we got the pasta nice and thin, Chef Tom started mixing up fillings for what would eventually be our raviolis.  We all worked together to create three types of ravioli – three cheese and spinach, chicken and garlic and sausage and cheese – creating tortellini, beggar’s purses and triangles of dough to wrap around the delicious fillings.  It was a long process, especially since we were learning as we went but really simple, I never knew make pasta from scratch would be so easy!  Plus, it was so fun to put effort into a meal and have it turn out so well.  We even added a pasta roller to our gift registry after we got home!

The Final Product - Così Delizioso!

The class was great fun and I’d definitely try another.  The school offers classes every Tuesday night and Saturdays too, teaching bread baking, how to make soups and sauces and souffles, world cuisine, cakes – pretty much anything you’d want to learn how to make.  Even though the Real Cool Cooking School has a cheesy name it’s well worth the visit.

Ready to Cook!

Thanks Matt, Em and Drew for the great gift, we loved it!

Sneak Peek – Engagement Pictures

Last night Todd and I had our engagement pictures taken.  We were very lucky to have my wonderful, talented cousin, Rebecca take them for us.  It was a great night and we were able to walk downtown by the river, get on top of the Oakwood apartments (thanks Dad!) and spend some time at the Frederik Meijer Gardens as well.

For a sneak peek, please visit her blog at: http://beccaelizabethphotography1.blogspot.com/

We had such a great time shooting with Rebecca and we hope you enjoy seeing the pictures as much as we enjoyed having them taken!