Chestnut noodles, a season of sorrow and of joy

In a break from politics, we return to cooking. Ordered some chestnut flour in order to make Chestnut Cake (Castanacchio), and it arrived last Friday. But instead of the cake, made Farina di Castagne (Chestnut noodles). Fairly simple: just chestnut flour, some egg replacer for us vegans, and a bit of salt. Form the dough, let it rest, then put it through the pasta machine until it's the thinness wanted, then cut into noodles or spaghetti. Here are the noodles drying on a sheet on the dining room table:



And here the finished, dried, noodles


Cooked them quickly (barely three minutes in boiling water); served with a tofu/tempeh/chili bean tomato sauce. No leftovers!

This was a good end to a dreadful few months. Ann's brother, Carl, died just after Christmas; she'd planned to fly to Vancouver to see him, but he asked that she not come, then called to say he was sorry and had made a mistake. She had a good talk with him, and remade flight reservations, but he died before Ann and her sister could get there. Ann was able to connect with Carlo and Margarita's two daughters, Yoshi and Maria, both adopted from China and whom she'd not met.
Here's Ann and Maria

Barbara Kachur, my former student, died shortly thereafter, so as soon as Ann returned from Vancouver, we were off to St. Louis for Barb's memorial service. Spent a good couple of days with Barb's longtime partner, Joann Lindsay, and several of Joann's sisters. Good to see them, just as it was good for Ann to meet her nieces, although we both wish the meetings could have been under better circumstances.

And the Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition is now underway, for the third time (it happens in alternate years). More details at www.heckartdrama.blogspot.com -- 122 manuscripts in already, and there's a month to go.