Last Birthday Present

Since I'm around the computer any how, I thought I'd come here and let you all know what this special last birthday present I got my parents was.

I had hoped to of used it by now, done a 'I got this' type post and then make a post about how to use it, make things with it and perhaps even a recipe or 2 to go with it from trial/error with it but sadly the day yet to come but I hope it comes soon! Perhaps I'll make some for over the Christmas/New Year holiday... hubby always has that entire week off.

Anyhow, my wonderful parents... my mother especially really does listen to a lot of my rambling and babbling when we're out shopping or just bumping around. This year they saved and saved and manage to buy me that very very much wanted pasta maker! Yes you heard it, although I thought it'd easily be next year at the earliest that I'd get it, I got it for my birthday!

Sadly though as I said it has still sat mostly in it's box since that time :( Due to the current surgery and then all the end of the year stuffs, I just haven't had the time to give to experimenting with it yet. Soon though! VEEERRRRY soon! I did get to making a bolognese sauce recipe though when I had intended to try the machine out but ran out of energy and want for cooking by the time I made a 4 quart soup pot of the sauce LOL. Next time I'll make sure it's not 2pounds of meat and lots of other things.

Anyhow, my new pasta maker. Only thing I am missing now is that I want *1* additional attachment to it and that is one that will help me make gnocchi and a few other types of pasta and I need some mineral oil for maintenance on it. But over all it looks like a VERY good machine and I very much look forward to experimenting with it!

And yes every one... it is actually imported from Italy! There are *some* advantages of being located in the EU... some really nice imports happen to be one and a very loving and dear family happen to another!

Recipe - Cream Seafood & Corn Chowder

I have to admit I started writing this entry about 2weeks ago, it really never seems to amaze me how fast time flies. The first part of the post doesn't even follow a time line any more so I just deleted about an hour worth of typing I had done! Oh well... today is another day and another recipe. I'm sorry to all that are watching my blog that I haven't been here posting but I will try to be here more often and perhaps I'll even be able to bring you new photos/posts while I'm on the go as I also just got a new little 'toy' yesterday and that is a new cell phone... the Samsung Galaxy Y s5360... ok ok specifics but basically it's a smart phone with Android which is needed to run stuff flash based. It is also run/own by Google itself so I can even blog from it with patience.

For today I have this wonderful recipe that I also made for the time my husband had off for his birthday in late October. With all the wonderful seafood that I had bought for the Posh Fish Pie at that time too, I had lots of fresh crab meat left and decided on a soup that looked rather yummy and the end result was really nice... creamy crab and corn chowder... a perfect soup for a small starter or even with a nice piece of salmon next to it as a main dish! This recipe didn't make *huge* amounts or anything but since I made this with our meal instead of as our meal, I had enough left over to send a nice helping with my parents when they came to visit the next day... they liked it too!

Ingredients

 ♥ 1 small onion, finally chopped
 ♥ 1 clove garlic, finally chopped
 ♥ 2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
 ♥ 1 red pepper, seeds removed and cut into small pieces
 ♥ 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
 ♥ 2 1/2 cups low fat or skim milk
 ♥ 1 cup canned corn or around 2 ears of fresh corn cut from it's stalk
 ♥ 2 tbs fresh parsley, finally chopped or 1 tbs dried

Directions

This soup is actually rather easy to make I think. Actually most soups I've made are pretty easy I think. Start off by making sure your potatoes and bell pepper are chopped into small pieces. Place in a 2 quart pan and add the 2 1/2 cups chicken stock. I usually end up using that amount of water and adding stock cubes instead.

Once the bell pepper is tender and the potatoes cooked through, remove half the mixture to another bowl and set aside for a moment. The other half that should still be in your pot, you need to puree either with a stick blender or if you don't have one, a standing blender will do just as well.

Pour reserved mixture back into puree'd mixture and stir. Bring back to a low simmer and add the milk, crab and corn. When warmed through, add parsley and serve.

It's a wonderful soup if you like crab. The stuff I had was a bit too fine for this dish though so it kind of got lost texture wise so if you can get chunked crab meat then do so, it'll be well worth the cost to have bigger pieces. You could of course also choose to buy fresh crab and do it that style. I do plan to show you how to boil crab and lobsters at some point in my blogging future!