Ahh, comfort food

For me it will always be homemade pasta smothered in homemade pesto. Trace it to the Italian heritage from my mother’s side, or more directly to the summer dinners punctuated by my parents’ garlic infused hands . . . all I truly know is that whatever aversion I experienced as a silly kid is long gone. That would be 3 helpings I indulged in last night.

After punching the last computer bubble to complete my GRE testing in the fall of 2006, I decided on treating myself to the machine I’ve always lusted after. No batteries, no lubrication necessary, just a good old hand crank Imperia Noodle Machine. In hindsight, this particular purchase (accomplished at a Williams Sonoma store front in Boise, Idaho), appears to have set the tone for the upcoming experience with graduate school. I took the test in order to enter a Conservation Restoration grad program at the University of Idaho, and it took me but several months of classes to realize that indeed food and local agriculture were my true passions.