My daughter and I were in a book club this summer, and we read four books written by Sharon Creech. After reading Granny Torelli Makes Soup, I was inspired to make cavatelli like Granny Torelli. I happen to love cavatelli, but I'd never made it from scratch. (If you have never had cavatelli, it is pasta made with flour, eggs and ricotta cheese.)

I asked my daughter to help me. She loved sifting the flour with her hands and watching the eggs ooze into the bowl. I think she would have been happy just to play in the flour. She read the recipe to me and helped me divide the dough into fourths. Then we divided each fourth into four equal parts--are you seeing the math going on here? Then we had to roll the dough into 1/4 inch thick ropes and cut the rope into one inch pieces. Math, math, math.

Then the fun part. We had to transform the one inch pieces into cavatelli. I won't attempt to describe the process, but let's just say it took plenty of practice. We had to persevere, trying over and over to get the right shape. We felt a real sense of accomplishment when the pasta started looking like cavatelli.

Is there something you would like to learn how to do? Why not do it with your child?