I remember walking into my mom’s kitchen once and seeing bowl after bowl edged with drying noodles. She explained that she was making homemade noodles for dinner. Her friend, Joan, taught her how*. I thought it was weird since store-bought noodles were not that expensive and had to be easier than making one’s own. After eating the noodles made by my mom I realized that home-made noodles were better than store-bought and maybe even worth the trouble.

I don’t know how many more times mom made noodles, but the memory of the taste and texture of those noodles stayed with me for a long time. I always looked for the thickest noodles at the store when I was planning on making something that involved noodles. I did find some nearly perfect noodles at a specialty store, but have not been able to find them since that first time.

So a few months ago I made a dish that called for noodles. I didn’t have any in the house (or perhaps the flour bugs got into them and I had to toss them) and didn’t want to go to the store, so I looked up noodle recipes online. I found a few, but nothing looked like the noodles my mom made. I could have called her, but thought she might not remember the recipe. Anyway, I finally found a recipe that looked about right — and it was delicious. (I added 1 tsp of dried thyme to give the noodles more flavor).

I made the noodles again last weekend during one of the snowstorms and Dean made Beef Burgundy. We’re still eating it since he made a double batch, mistakenly thinking Andrew and his friends were going to stay for dinner. (I didn’t think they would — since beef stew, even by another name, tastes the same to teenage boys).

Anyway, try the recipe sometime. We’ve had it with beef stew and with chicken soup. Both were very yummy.

*Joan also taught my mom how to make sausage, but I’m not interested in anything that has to do with pig intestines