The Gnocchi and the Cracked Heat Exchanger

On Friday, I thought I should probably make a little homemade dinner, since we'd been eating leftover birthday sloppy joes for a week. I was hungry for some nice, hot gnocchi. A little practice for being an Italian Grandmother on a cold winter's day. 

I started by boiling the potatoes whole. Then peeling them fresh out of the water. Then, since I don't have a ricer, I cranked them through the Foley foodmill. 

I kneaded in some flour and salt, rolled it into snakes, and made it into dumplings.

Then I boiled them in small batches. Be sure not to forget to salt the water like I did. Aren't they wonderful looking? Little potato-ey pillows, covered in butter, parmesan, and romano.

It was good we had a heartening dinner... because after tucking Bella in for the night, we heard a SCREEEECH sound--which was quickly followed by a burning smell. Apparently the blower motor dyed in a flash of blazing glory. An emergency furnace guy, stopping over at 11 pm that night, confirmed our suspicions, but also found a cracked heat exchanger and so was unable to get it running again. Something about carbon monoxide. Bah.

We are cozied up by the heat of the fireplace, laptops, space heaters, etc. and are actually keeping quite warm. Which is nice, because when the furnace sales guys come over, it's more convincing to not be shivering and wearing parkas when you tell them you're going to get a few more estimates and don't want to rush into anything.

Here is Bella, imitating Tiny Tim. It's really not that cold in here. We're keeping nice and cozy!