Ciao Bella!

My best friend and her family arrived into town this past weekend. I had given her a long list of activities to enjoy here in Southern California with us and when asked what she wanted to do…she responded as a true Italian – “lets cook together as a family”

I have always admired her family gatherings growing up as they have really enjoyed the art of cooking. It is a full day activity that involves everyone in the family. She has now blessed our family with this same gift. This past weekend, we indulged!

We dove into the joys of making homemade ravioli. Ambience was set, as the hubby set up the surround sound to belt out Bocelli and Sinatra as we enjoyed several bottles of vino throughout the cooking experience.

Kids happily lined up to be part of the fun. First dibs got to clean mushrooms.

Then mix all 3 cheeses together for the cheese stuffing for ravioli.

The meat gravy was smelling sooooooooo good, lils ones would squeak for a peek!

The dough came out “Perfecto”…of course god-daughter Kate got this job!

Kate has big shoes to fill with her godmothers cooking

Girls were in charge of stuffing dozens of ravioli, dipping their lil fingers in water to press the sides to stick together.

We hand-shaped the ravioli after popping circles out from the top of a narrow wine glass.

We also formed some from a shaper.

Kids took turns and also took breaks to play monopoly

And of course…Chiara taught them how to sew that same day?!? I know…crazy right? What does Godmom Chiara not know how to do? They made American Girl doll dresses and little cross purses. All this while they helped cooking…it was an all day event!

Then the french bread went in. I am not kidding…BEST EVER!!! I will never buy store-bought garlic bread again. This is doable people! The key is the bread…we went to two stores to find the right bread. This was an Italian Rustic Artisan Sourdough.

Garlic Bread Recipe (remember it’s all about the quality bread)

1 loaf of rustic sourdough sliced lengthwise

1 stick of butter (room temperature)

2-4 garlic cloves crushed in garlic press

dash of salt

about 1/2 T. Salad supreme spice

I sometimes add freshly grated parmesan too

Mix all together and spread a generous amount on bread

In oven at 375 for 15+minutes and 1-3 minutes under high heat on broil (watch very carefully as it burns easily on broil)

Boys coveted the gravy. Think we are getting hungry.

Chiara giving the gravy one last stir. It is now 8pm (Did I mention my kids eat at 5? I knew this, so we had plenty of snacking items around house- they did just fine!)

Oh my stars…

Paired with an arugula salad with red wine vinegar and oil…we were one happy family.

An added bonus is that we made enough ravioli and gravy to freeze for future enjoyment…tonight we boil them up! “Gratzi” Mosher crew for a priceless gift…our time spent with all of you.