Two of our grandsons were spending the weekend with us. It was too brutally hot to play outside. So, while Dan was on the golf course, it fell to me to figure out how to keep them entertained indoors.
Three of my next four Pomodori e Vino recipes call for homemade pasta. I needed to get it done on Saturday. Grandson #1 became my very able assistant. He thought it was a game, and great fun.
I dug out my pasta machine. The box I keep it in is worse for the wear.

But the trusty ol’ Pasta Queen is still bright and shiny. It does have one tiny little nick in one of the rollers. But I choose to look upon it as my own personal identifying mark.

I assembled the ingredients and let Grandson #2 crack the eggs into my ’00’ flour. He immediately lost interest and wondered off to other persuits.

Grandson #1 wanted to mix the dough. He thought getting his hands into that egg and flour would be quite a bit of fun. I declined the offer, by telling him that I had a much more important job for him — running the pasta machine. What boy can turn down something with gears? Right?

A double batch of spinach pasta required a lot of cranking. But he didn’t get bored or give out on me. He was a real trooper. We rolled the dough, cut it into fettuccine. Then when it was still just moist enough to loop, we made our nests for drying.

There were just a few odd short or broken pieces left over. So I cooked them; dressed them with a little bit of butter, salt & pepper; and the pasta pro enjoyed the fruits of his labor.