Making Fresh Pasta at Kittery, Maine

I enjoyed telling my history of how I was named. There was Mama Mugavero, Aunt Frances, my mom and dad all huddled in the hospital room deciding my name. My dad wanted to name me Bette after Bette Davis. My mom wanted to name me Bettye (Betty with an E). My Godmother Frances wanted me to be named Frances. Mama Mugavero wanted me to be named Lucia because I was born on St. Lucy’s day (December 13). When all was said and done I was named Bette Frances Lucia, thus the name of my teaching site: Francesca Lucia.

Tonight we had a great group of pasta makers. We mixed semolina flour, white flour and salt. We mixed eggs, oil and water. Voila! Pasta dough. It is hard work. It requires commitment and muscles. It takes us all back to the days when dough was kneaded. Way back before mixers could make dough in five minutes. Wow! How easy was it to make pasta with a Kitchen Aid? We saw how easy it was at the end of class. The choice lays now with the class chefs on how they will make fresh pasta in the future…by hand or machine.