new soup/salad/pasta plates and a tip

Many years ago I purchased pasta plates.  They were a little pricy so I bought one for each member of our family which was five at that time.  Since then our family has changed and now when we are all together we could use seven plates.  Fearing we would be unable to match the same plates my daughter Nikole found new pasta plates and bought me 12 for Christmas this year.  These plates are white so they add to the other white dishes and serving pieces that I have been collecting over the years.  They are a shallow bowl and will work perfectly for many different kinds of first courses--pasta--but also salad or soup.  The past couple of days I have used them for all three.

savory roasted butternut soup

salad- mixed greens from the winter greenhouse

 pasta with creamy carrots and Asian greens

And a tip

A couple days ago a friend sent me a video by email showing Martha Stewart peeling garlic by placing a whole head of garlic in a stainless bowl, inverting another bowl over the top and shaking the garlic.   After just a couple of shakes I could hear that the garlic sounded different, like it was changing from one piece to many pieces and after just a few more shakes this was the result:

It works!

The garlic cloves are separated and peeled and once the peeled cloves are removed from the loose skins they are ready to use, undamaged.

Here is the video:

Thanks Dar for sending the video.

Shared with

Between Naps on the Porch

recipes:

savory butternut squash soup
pasta with creamy carrots and Asian greens
breadsticks

I will be adding links to the homemade fettuccine.