I Went To Italy....?(Homemade hand noodles)

Anyone who has hopped on a plane and gone to another part of the world knows the thrill of travelling , seeing new sights, different types of people and trying new foods, but not everybody has the luxury to do so. Me on the other hand, I neither have the pocket nor patience to travel all over the world (Ok, never mind the fact that I traveled more that 9000 miles/14 400 kilometers from my original home, that's not important anymore since i'm now half-American)

So without breaking the bank I found a cheap way to travel; FOOD. I'm not talking about Food tourism where one goes to another country to eat local foods and immerse themselves in a particular culture. There are well-known bloggers like Mark Wiens who travels the world with his wife and little son solely to eat different kinds of food while getting paid for it. I'm talking about Cooking food from different parts of the world and learning more about the place it originated from. 
This is not an original idea, I stole it from my good friend Katy- we once went to the mall with her kids to eat food from a Japanese restaurant. As part of their homeschooling lesson the older kids were answering various questions that Katy was posing from their lesson about Japan. I loved that idea and thought this is something I would love to do with my family one day.

Now that I have my own kitchen I enjoy making food from all over the world- with a South African twist!. Today I made Italian egg noodles from scratch with my hands (Just like my nonna would...just kidding, I don't have an Italian grandmother). For anyone who has knead any type of dough by hand know what a workout it can be for your hands ,but the final product makes all the work that went into it worth it. Even though most of the time I'm making bread or cake I use my kitchen aid, today I had to use my palms and fingers. The dough is quite stiff and requires fat patience. 

To make the noodles I didn't use a specific recipe. I made research on what goes into the egg noodles from watching different YouTube videos then mixing my dough as I go (am I the only one who feels like following a recipe step by step doesn't workout as good as free styled cooking? )
All I used was All purpose flour (about 3 cups), 2 large eggs and few tablespoons of water(maybe 6?). I knead the dough for 20 minutes with few short breaks. After 20 minutes of kneading I covered my dough with plastic then let it rest for 1 hour. After an hour it was softer and easier to work with.

I rolled it with my rolling pin (handles removed) until it was almost paper thin, this took a couple of minutes then I ended up cutting the dough using my bench scraper(Who knew it had multiple purpose). I then dusted the cut noodles with cornstarch to prevent them from sticking to one another then transferred everything into a bowl and refrigerated them until dinner time (3 hours). 

I cooked the noodles in salted boiling water for only 4 minutes and they were done. I drained them using a colander that has seen better days and transferred them back to the pot and coated them with my homemade Marinara sauce and served them alongside my chicken parmigiana

This meal was delicious guys, so delicious it prompted me to write a post about it. I have always made pasta or pizza sauce from scratch but was too lazy to devote time to noodles but after today, I don't know if I will be buying boxed pasta anymore. Nothing beats homemade. Thank you God for the beautiful& highly skilled people of Italy and for taste buds! 

My Simple Small Town life: 10 Reasons I enjoy living in Bartlesville, Oklahoma

10 Months ago on this day Garrett and I returned from our honeymoon trip- I immediately assumed my new role as a homemaker and it was the day I permanently moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Before all that happened, we were in a long-distance relationship/courtship so I'd visit a couple of times from Washington state and whenever we talked about getting married Bartlesville and other cities in different states/provinces were options for us to live in. Now that I've been here for full ten months I have fallen in love with rural America. Small town boy, small Town life-It's enough for me.
I've been to the bowling alley once, I've been to the Cinema once and I'm completely okay with the lack of too much entertainment around because I can stay in my house and live the life of my dreams as a hermit!Juuuussst kidding..!, But seriously, I like doing activities out of our house but I am also a major homebody and this is the perfect town to do both.  Here are 10 reasons I love living in Bartlesville: 

10. All my Purchases are thought out
Because a small town has limited number of big stores, driving to another town (Tulsa or Owasso) to get specialty items or goods means planning in advance (setting a date and saving enough money to go there), In most cases I just end up sitting on my couch contemplating whether its worth driving 45 minutes to get a Sprouts Organic red bell pepper or settle for a suspiciously large sized genetic modified one from a local supermarket. I usually opt for the latter.
9. Shopping is easier
Even though there are a limited number of shops, I appreciate that I don't fear being squashed to death in a stampede anytime I go make groceries....well except for that one day a year after thanksgiving where everyone is tricked into spending money on things they obviously don't need (Please don't come at me ye militant black Friday shoppers). Except on Black Friday, shopping in a small town is not only easier, but Pleasant!
8. The cost of living is relatively low
Without comparing the cost of living here in Bartlesville to any City I lived at in South Africa (because everything in America is expensive), small towns are known for lower rent costs, food costs and Sale Taxes. The standard of living is lower compared to a great number of towns in the same state and also in the country.
7. Life doesn't move too fast
Before I came to the US I spent 9 years living in few big cities in South Africa-the city I spent more years in was Port Elizabeth. As much as I loved living in that Friendly city, I often longed for school terms to finish so that I could go visit my mother in the village, away from the city strife...away from coffee drinkers, social media celebs, Beiber fans, etc. The village was a safe haven for when I was tired of the competitive and quick nature of life in the big city. Everything happened fast, people moved fast and so did I, I didn't have time to pause, think or take naps. Now that I live in this small "boring" town I haven't cared about living in a big town again.
6. No major noise pollution
Except for the occasional Bark-off(brought to us by our friendly neighborhood dogs) that happens in our neighborhood every evening right before we get into bed, Bartlesville is a quiet town. It's so quiet that whenever there is a loud or weird noise heard everyone always wonders what it might be (You are more likely to have a conversation with other people the next day about the strange noise heard .....the town is that small haha). In the big cities there was always a combination of noises coming from Night clubs, Industries, overcrowded residential areas, etc therefore selective hearing to drown all the noise was a useful survival skill.
5. Driving and Parking is not a nightmare
Because most places I go to aren't overcrowded by people, Finding a parking spot is not hard and driving around doesn't make me feel like I'm on an episode of a car racing show. I would say though, I do get surprised when I see people driving too fast in this tiny town..like what are you in a hurry for? Nothing is that urgent here. well, except if you are a paramedic driving an ambulance or a cop chasing a criminal.
4. The crime rate is Low
I've already written about the first time I got mugged in P.E in one of my previous blogs. When I stayed in Washington I lived with the fear of getting my stuff stolen (yes there are thieves in America too hahah...), I think I'm spoiled by the low crime rate in this town that I feel tense in bigger cities. Maybe because everyone here knows everyone so if you try to mug me i'll come to your house later with the cops!
3. My In-Laws live within an earshot 
It is a big blessing to be able to live in the same country with the love of my life but sweeter to live closer to my in-laws who are all things wounderful and loving. We get together, we visit, we live life together.
2. People are more friendly
This doesn't mean every single person is gonna go out of their way to be nice but a majority of time I am in public places I exchange smiles with friendly old people and people are not afraid to give complements because talking to strangers is not a faux pas. I always tell my husband that there is an Ouma at Braum's who greets me with "How are you doing little lady?"accompanied by a big toothless smile, that makes my week.
1. Our church family makes it even nicer to live in this town
One of the things Garrett and I prayed hard for was to find a Bible-believing, gospel-centered community of believers and the Lord blessed us with First Baptist church of Bartlesville. This is a nice community of believers who love and serve one another. A majority of our meaningful friendships were developed in this community and not that we would not go anywhere else the Lord sends us but at this time that we live in Bartlesville, we enjoy being part of this community. We love it here. We are thankful. I want to stay.