Ladies' Pasta Night

My fabulously talented friend Zhara invited a few fun girls over to make ravioli, from scratch. The resulting meal was, as you can see, wonderful!

We all gathered at Zhara's; her knack for amazingness in the kitchen is well-known in these parts, so she often receives aprons as gifts--we each chose one to sport for the evening.

Zhara's home is cozy and classy. She had every burner working in her little kitchen when we arrived.

Zhara made the noodle dough ahead of time; then we ran it through the press over and over and over again.

Once the dough was thinny thin thin, we laid it out and dropped dollups of yummy fillings (again, made by Zhara earlier that afternoon).

We had four delicious fillings: spinach and cheese, mushroom, herbs and cheese, and butternut squash. 

 We had a pretty good system working for us: some girls rolling out pasta, some of us dolluping filling and cutting out the ravioli pieces, someone boiling the finished gems at the stove:

 







In the meantime, Zhara was whipping up homemade marinara sauce, as well as a browned butter sauce for the pasta:

She pulled a fresh loaf of focassia bread out of the oven and tossed up a simple salad. The table was laden--it was beautiful!

 The ladies:

 I love these classy girls. We had a great time cooking and chatting. I thought, "How lovely, to know such wonderful people and spend such a delightful evening in their company." Plus, the food was DELECTABLE. Happy, happy night indeed.

Nina's Wedding

This is my beautiful sister-friend, Kristina Michelle. I called her "Hill" for two years while we served missions together in Pusan, Korea.

Yesterday, she married Dan Fife. She was stunningly beautiful.

The reception, at Sundance, was sparkly and lovely.

I am a giant when I stand next to her.

Her bleeding armadillo groom's cake!

Me and my mama, all dressed up.

Give Thanks

Due to a neat twist in the schedule at work, I had a paid flight home for the Thanksgiving holiday, plus ten days to stay and play with my family in Utah.

It was a day of cooking, eating, resting, laughing, singing, talking and rough-housing at Nana's. 

She had eight children. As all of them stayed in the area to raise their own families, we had plenty of cousins to hang out with at family functions. I love going home  and seeing how old everyone is getting (as the oldest grandchild, I always imagine the other kids perpetually young; it surprises me to see them graduating from college and getting married, etc. etc.).

Me with my lovely aunts: Sadie, Michelle, and Melissa. I love these fabulous women. Notice we donned adorable aprons before beginning the mashing of potatoes and whipping of the cream. Nana's kitchen is designed just so we each have enough space to work on all the kitchen tasks simultaneously, as Nana flits around instructing, "Now add a splash of milk and stir it in. Honey, your bread is ready to roll out." 

We had our traditional green jello topped with cheddar cheese, a Montgomery specialty--trust me, it's delicious!

We're a big enough bunch that we had multiple kids' tables scattered throughout the basement.

I spread the yo-yo fever and had several of my younger cousins practicing tricks after dinner. This is Christopher, the most adorable little cowboy. 

Got to see Pixie Rae!!

And my lovely sister, Toad. 

I'm so very grateful for family. These people are my anchors in life; they make me laugh, they pray for me when I'm away, they are a riot of sarcasm and hugs.