I have made signification progress toward my vacation goals. I have finally vanquished my nemesis, ravioli, on my fifth attempt. I have learned the first third of “The Carol of the Bells”. I finished Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut.

So that you might not fall in the the pasta pitfalls that I did, I will share what I learned. The texture of the dough will determine if you’re contentedly filling your pasta pockets or cursing like my father wrangling the Christmas lights. This recipe is among my failed attempts. This dough turned out extremely stiff, dry and brittle. Now, if you want a quarter of a teaspoon of filling in your pasta this type of dough might work fine for you. I attempted to make this abomination work at my peril.

After concluding that that dough just wasn’t going to work, I did more research about pasta dough. I found a youtube clip of what appears to be an Italian chef making ravioli dough. This man gave me the key to success. He mentioned that egg whites should be omitted if you want a soft, pliable dough. From that moment forward I only browsed recipes with yolks only. This recipe looked like the recipe my youtube pasta mentor provided only in a quantity for appropriate for me. This dough turned out great.

Here’s lesson number two about ravioli. If you want to freeze them for future  convenient meals, you must be careful to freeze them fully on cookie sheets prior to putting them in a bag or container together. I did not do this. I let them sit out and dry, to what I deemed, a sufficient amount of time. I deemed wrong, very wrong. When I got my baggie of pasta out they has managed to mate in the freezer bag. I basically had one giant ball of dough/filling.

My successful attempt was really fantastic. I had a dinner party with friends. I made the pumpkin ravioli with hazelnut cream sauce. The recipe didn’t disappoint; it just as delicious as I imagined.

The guitar playing is going ok. I am really, really out of practice. I have only played for a couple of days, but I think I already have a blister on my middle finger. I don’t remember that happening so fast when I was younger. The arrangement for “The Carol of the Bells” is appropriate to my current playing abilities, so that’s nice. I will easily have this song in the bag by Christmas. I might need to find another song to work on.

Slaughterhouse 5 was just ok. I hate science fiction. As soon as the aliens entered the plot, I was really done. At least I read it quick and can move on to something that I might like. I’ve attempted to read The Fountainhead at least three times. Maybe vacation will work it’s magic with that?