Pasta machine and Microplane zester/grater
On Monday I went to Victoria’s Basement to buy a birthday present for a friend. I think from ALL shops in Sydney, this one and Dr Earth Health Foods are my top 2. I just can’t get there and not buy anything for me. Of course, I try to go only when there’s a sale, and this happened to be the case. As I looked for something that my friend would appreciate, my eyes scanned through the shelves and sale prices marked on yellow tags, as my brain raced to think what is missing in my kitchen arsenal. It isn’t nearly as big as the one I used to have in Lima, mainly because I still haven’t recovered from all the money I spent while being unemployed (and don’t know if I ever will) and I’m still the only money-making person in the house. The other reason is that my kitchen is small, so there’s not much storing space for new toys.
I tried to convince myself that I needed half of the store, but reality took over and made me choose wisely. There were pasta machines at a good price ($30) and Microplane zester/graters that costed about as much ($25), which I think is a good price in Australia. Do I really need these tools? Of course I do!
There’s no pasta that beats the flavour of the one made at home, and I haven’t made it in a long while. I’m also planning to bake my own crackers in order to make my stress-induced cracker binges a bit healthier. The rolling out will be easier with the machine, as advised by Heidi Swanson in this recipe. I may even try to duplicate Tabla’s croccantinni (thin crackers infused with different flavours – aji, rosemary, parmesan cheese – that are served instead of bread in a restaurant I worked at in Lima).
Pasta machine
As for the zester, I’ve been struggling long enough to get decent citrus zest on my salads and baked goods, either by grating (or attempting to) fruit skin using a regular grater (resulting in all the zest sticking to the curls of the instrument) or chopping the skin as finely as possible (which is a time-consuming task). Finally I have the right tool for this purpose, and it’ll debut tonight.
Microplane zester/grater
