Fresh Pasta

With the price of food ever rising I decided I’d start investing in a few things I’ve always wanted that will make the daily cost of living a little more manageable.

Don’t get me wrong… They were pricey (~$250 each) but I’ve been eyeing these pasta presses for a long time and am VERY HAPPY to have them.

I call these investments my “apocalypse prep” so that in the event we just end up fending for ourselves all I need is flour, water and eggs then some solar power to make all the comforts of home.

(Obviously more work to be done- bare pasta is kinda meh.. One step at a time.)

It seems like the pasta recipes are all very similar (and easy) the one that came in the pasta maker instruction manual by far seems to be the best consistency for the machines (who would have thought)

I’m really looking forward to experimenting with different flours once I get the hang of the basic recipe! Lots of opportunities for whole wheat or even vegetable based pastas I think. For now though I am enjoying this very easy 4 ingredient recipe- sometimes simple is best.

The presses allow me to make my own lasagna, fettachuni, spaghetti, macaroni, fuscalini, etc etc for pennies on the dollar- I don’t recommend making the switch to fresh pasta if you don’t want to invest the time to do the prep but I do recommend it for the amazing taste as ease of cooking (4 minutes!)

For the lasagna noodles I opted not to boil then, instead treating them like “ready to bake” noodles and putting them right in the oven. Took about 35 minutes to get them tender to our liking but if you have the time to do it I really recommend! With it cooking in the sauce it just added so much flavor.

I still need more practice with making spaghetti, it just LOVES getting stuck in the machine and the internet has not provided any assistance to why… So I think it will just be a matter of practice and getting the consistency and thickness just right.

I am so excited to continue to learn tips and tricks with these and I will certainly be sharing more as I learn!

Review: Grape Escapes Wine Tour

My brother and his fiancé were very generous this year and got me a gift card for a wine tour for my birthday back in April.

The wine tour company was Grape Escapes and they run tours all year round (probably covid dependent but what isn’t these days)

I finally cashed it in in October on my vacation to take in my own back yard of Wolfville. The tour guide was well informed of the area and it’s history- it was sometimes hard to hear her with the mask but again.. Sign of the times.

We hit up 3 vineyards:

1. Luckette’s Vineyard

2. Benjamin Bridge; and

3. L’Acadie

The thing that I enjoyed the most had very little to do with the actual wine tour- there was a sense of normal this day I hadn’t felt in awhile. Full vaccination was required because of course you can’t have a mask on while taste testing wine so you were just simply surrounded by 25 other strangers drinking wine, seldom mask wearing, pretending the world isn’t going bonkers just for a second. That was nice. Especially as I write this 99% of my holiday plans have been kyboshed due to Omicron… But I digress, I have little to complain about living in Nova Scotia through all of this.

First stop: Luckette’s Vineyard for wine and lunch.

We tried 5 types of wine, all whites (yay) and some had a sparkling touch which was very enjoyable. Lunch was very carb centric (no surprise- but also no complaints- I love bread)

Everything was well scheduled, we spend the most time here since we could eat, drink plus they had a shop to enjoy (that I bought a book from). There was also lots of time to get the iconic red phone booth photo.

Second Stop: Benjamin Bridge

I can not even begin to describe the beauty of this location, if I didn’t know better I’d swear we teleported to Italy. The valley plains were just incredible.

This stop we probably spend the least amount of time, it’s not a huge site but the wines were certainly delicious. I believe we tried 3- 2 whites and a rosé. All sparking as Benjamin Bridge is known for.

We got a small tour of their production which was neat but it was a little squish for so many people to be in there. (still need some personal space c’mon guys). Due to the small space this was probably my lesser favorite of the 3 stops but you still can’t beat that view.

Benjamin Bridge Winery

Final Stop: L’Acadie Vineyards

Another breathtaking site but this one more so for it’s architecture as opposed to the nature. These buildings are rich in culture and I look forward to going back and trying the restaurant out.

We had 5 different wines here and this was the first place that served reds (not my favorite) but my partner loved the dessert wine we got to try and we grabbed it from the shop before leaving the site (along with bacon jam)

Overall it was an enjoyable time, I do think however, if I do it again I’d attempt to arrange a private tour. As much as it was nice to feel like I was in a normal group setting it’s still nicer to be a part of your own “bubble” when laughing and sipping wine.

For the public event they used a large Coach bus and from what I was told a smaller more intimate van is used for the private tours which would feel a little less tourist-y.