Noodle Day and an amendment

 I am amending this post because Robin said I should add a little of the back story/history of the noodles and she's right! 

It was noodle day yesterday and the torch has passed to the girls.  Actually, it passed to them years ago but I'm not usually there to help and learn.  Believe me, they have their system.  Forty-eight eggs.  Lots of flour, much cranking muscle.  We spelled each other as someone got tired and the job tedious.  We were making so many noodles it took determination to get through it. 

These noodles are something PH's mom and aunts made for every holiday and while the women are long gone now, everyone is making sure there is someone from each family learning how to make them. One cousin has six grandsons and he and his wife are holding noodle making classes so those boys learn how it's done. They are cooked in chicken  broth instead of water  and eaten without sauce, kind of like a spaetzle but noodle length and rarely does anyone put gravy on them (I do, but I am the in-law!)No holiday table or family gathering will happen without these noodles, even picnics in July!Each aunt would bring a pot of noodles and plunk the pot on the table and each batch was different and everyone could walk up to the table and name who made which batch.   PH's mom's were thick and very yellow and it wasn't until our daughter was teaching herself how to make them that she called  PH's  brother to ask how she got that yellow color.

Well.  In the old days they had chickens on the farm that gave eggs with  very yellow yolks. But after she moved to the city and used store bought eggs she resorted to a drop or two of yellow food coloring.  One of the aunts rolled hers paper thin and the other's were a different color, much lighter.  

I am a devotee of the Pasta Grannies episodes on YouTube.  Have you seen them?   Eighty, 90, even 100 year old Grannies in Italy showing us how they do it.  I am addicted to those little ladies, they are inspiring. They've been making pasta every day of their lives and they are strong!    So when I collapse on the couch after making a batch of brownies I put an episode of Pasta Grannies on TV and am reinvigorated.

It was a very productive afternoon and I think we might have enough for the two holidays!  Hopefully.