Hand made Pasta

Recently, I have really been wanting to do some nice cooking. Something that I have never tried before. Something... ambitious. So a few weeks ago, when I learned that my parent's-in-law were coming to our home for dinner, I decided, that was the chance I had been waiting for.

 

I had already perfected a spicy arrabbiatta sauce. It had the perfect level of spiciness and aroma with the tomato sauce. So, all I had to do was attempt to make handmade pasta for the first time.  While I thought that the flour would be hard to acquire, but as it turns out, many different kinds of flour can be used. The difference of the flour comes out in the taste, texture, and springyness of the resulting pasta.

 

After having searched thoroughly online, and observing more than a few youtube videos, it seems that most everyone who makes their own pasta uses a pasta machine. I did not. No problem, you can roll it out by hand. It takes a bit more of rolling, and after having done so, I suspect the only problem with rolling by hand is that it takes a bit more time and therefore, it lost a bit too much moisture after constantly folding the pasta over on itself. However, it was really quite relaxing and stress relieving to constantly fold that dough over.

 

Unfortunately, I do not have the entire process documented in photographs, as I would have liked, but working with flour for the first time, I couldn't take pictures at first.  Which is really a shame because for anyone who doesn't know how pasta is made, I was quite surprised about the beginning. The only ingredients necessary are eggs whisked and flour on a table in the form of a volcano to pour the egg into. Then you just slowly mix the flour into the egg mixture and once the consistency is right, roll it out. Then roll it out again. And roll it out one more time. And again. Again. Again. And again, just to be sure. By the end of the rolling, it should have a silky smooth sheen and texture. After that, all that is needed is to cut the noodles to the desired thickness. Now, because I didn't add any salt to the mixture of eggs and flour, when boiling, it is advised to put a bountiful amount of salt into the boiling water, almost to the point of it being as saline as sea water. I did almost that, and after about a minute and a half of boiling the noodles, it came out almost perfect. I was shocked by the ease of it. It was quite satisfactory.

 

The long and winding path

I find myself at a crossroads. I have a choice to make. Or rather, I have a choice that was made for me, and I have the choice to follow that decision. It has been plowed and sowed for me. It promises to have lots of fruit after a very long and very tiresome season. But I fear the fruit will be sour, hollow inside, or somehow tainted. There must be something I am not seeing, so while I feel uneasy about this path laid out for me, I will begin upon it, trustingly.

Our company, that just a year ago I was so happy to have succeeded on entering, and so thankful for giving me the opportunity to work in Korea, has now filed for protection from bankruptcy. What this means is that the months of delayed/no salary have ended. The company will no longer be badgered by creditors for payments, and the priority of payments will shift so that current employees will get paid first. Good for employees in the short term. Yet I choose to leave. There are many reasons for this, and I must remind myself of them constantly, lest my constitution waiver.

My new home is one of the blue blooded creatures of chaebol corporations in Korea. Chaebol are basically familys so rich and powerful that they have managed to diversify their corporations and practically taken over the government. Where I might be sent to, I don't know. How much I will get paid, I don't know. How much overtime I will have to work, I don't know. How much I can see my family, I don't know. Cross my fingers, everything will go well.

Ah, yes, if you are unaware of the comment about blue blooded, I will be joining Samsung Construction and Engineering, one of the largest construction companies in Korea.

On the plus side, I now find myself with some free down time before my education starts. After going through an orientation for a day, one of the most frequently asked questions was how to prepare for entering the company. All of the employees answered to go on a vacation. Hmmm, vacation. If you had roughly a month of free time, but little money, where might you go on a vacation? To be honest, I do not yet know the answer to that. That shall be for next time.