TORTELLONI ALBERTO!

UGH!
my grandma would always say:
they say; they say; but watch their feet.
it is a reference to talk being cheap, and actions speaking more clearly.
everybody's gonna, gonna, gonna,
but, if you watch closely what they DO-
the answers are in front of you and they are rarely what's being said.
i love that good ol' italian grandma wisdom.
and my eyes see all too clearly the soles and the piggies
as they march themselves right out of my world.
i have good news, though.
yup.
i also love good ol' italian grandma food, too;
and that's not going anywhere but into my bellyhole, bro.
yesterday,
i left work early.
i did.
and i didn't even feel the least bit badly about it.
y'know why i was so content to head back to the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress?
because i had a plan in place to produce some epic expert edible excellence.
and i love to work a plan, neighbors.
y'ever have BIG tortellini?
well, then you actually had tortellOni, kiddo.
that's right.
and last night, so did i.
check the teleport:

HOLY SMOKES AND THAT'S NO JOKES!!
so many notes in a symphony am i right?
and this bowl blew my mind out the front and sides of my head!
homemade pasta, homemade filling, homemade soup-
a furious from-scratch frenzy of flavorful fresh-to-deathness.
and i ate two bowls of it.
mmmmmmmmm.
ok.
so,
the dough was easy:
-
*
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in your stand mixer, with the dough hook attached,
knead together, for 10 flippin' minutes:
1 cup semolina flour;
1/2 cup+ a.p. flour;
3 T olive oil;
dash of salt;
1/2-2/3 cup hot water.
-
wrap and rest that shiny smooth ball for twenty-thirty minutes
while you're getting everything else ready,
roll it out thin on a well-floured surface,
and cut out as many 3" circles as you think you'll need.
i had twenty four? and there's enough dough to do it again tonight.
(easy, it's tuesday, and i'm going taco, okay)
-
put a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle, fold it in half,
tuck and crimp the ends in a little pasta hug,
and let 'em rest for a few minutes before dropping them in a pot of very salty boiling water,
just until they float.
BOOM!!
TORTELLONI, HOMIE!
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and that filling?
experté.
-
*
FILLIN'
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combine a cup of shredded baby spinach,
a bunch of shredded basil, a clove of crushed garlic,
and a tablespoon of minced shallot in olive oil, and saute it all up nicey-nice,
until the spinach is wilted down, and the shallot and garlic are softened.
add a spoonful of nutritional yeast,
and half a cup of homemade cashew-garlic (th)underchee',
mixing well as hell, for a perfectly balanced blend of interior goodsliness.
-
so, so, SO good.
and that's torties, all set and ready.
*
the sopa was hella tight, too.
obvi.
that's one minced shallot, two fat cloves of crushed garlic, GPOP,
and black pepper,
sauteed in oil until lightly browned,
with two cups vegetable broth and half a cup of crushed tomato,
simmered until all the little brown bits are semi-see-through.
the tomato and the shalot work unison to create maximum viscosity,
and that gently-gelled consistency is gonna coat those little pasta pockets and
turn the whole thing right up to the maxxx.
real talk-
the soup and the torties are a tag team, and solo,
they'd only be awesome, not epic.
...however,
it didn't stop there.
no way.
too much is the right amount.
look:

ALL THE sprankles!!!
YEAH!!
charred shallot rings!
fried garlic slices!
blackened tomatoes!!
fresh parsley!
fried chick peas!
dudes,
y'start with shallot, prepared and removed;
y'add oil and garlic, fry and remove;
y'blacken up the tomatoes, pull 'em off,
and toss in the chick peas.
it's a sequence of smart moves,
and all of them impart MORE flavor to each ingredient.
and then they all go on top to take it to eleven.
WORD!
...watch MY feet, guys.
i'm steppin' correct, one in front of the other,
marching in time to a bass-boosted heartbeat drumbeat
that sounds off in exxxplosive percussive thunderclaps,
with reproach and repercussions for all the ne'er-dids and ne'er-wills.
there's only these moments,
and i won't waste them watching-
i'll celebrate them with DOING.
***********
pee emm ayy.
that P.M.A.
a Positive Mental Attitude.
intentional optimism in the face of a harsh, unforgiving, ugly reality.
is that foolish?
...i don't think so.
and why not?
because there's always something to do.
and if something can be done,
and it is beneficial to forward progress and growth
as a competent, capable, communicative, considerate catalyst
for fortune's good favor?
y'gotta do it, don'tcha?
well, i think so.
so i'm doing what i can to focus all the fury at circumstances i can't direct,
and to slingshot all the forlorn faltering into surgical-striking viking lightning,
to lash out with controlled chaos, and set the trajectory upwards, onwards,
and off the charts,
to new heights,
and bigger pictures,
with clearer goals,
and live-and-direct-activated active participation.
it's all really happening, friends.
there's no time to waste on lost causes, lost souls, and lost minutes-
we've got moves to make,
and expanding spaces to occupy with our hands, and our hearts.
i mean,
we don't get these moments back,
so there's no use standing still.
onward we go, worthy warrior poets one and all-
surefooted as F*;
never quiet, never soft.....