Today was garbage day so as soon as I was dressed I ran outside to move our garbage bin down to the curb … and then I ran back inside to grab my camera because the world outside was all pearlescent fog and dew and hazy sunshine and I thought my sweet peas looked particularly lovely.

I made sweet potato gnocchi for dinner tonight. We ate them tossed with a bit of butter, salt, pepper and shredded cheese. Simple, delicious comfort food (and I have a bunch more in the freezer for another day) which reminded me that I wanted to share my kasespatzle making adventure with you guys.

It's been a week and a half since I made the spatzle and time is the great healer. Right now I remember how good the cheese smothered spatzle and caramelized onions tasted, how fantastic the onions smelled as they were cooking, and how quickly the spatzle batter came together. I'm glossing over the hot, sweaty labour of standing over a pot of boiling water and forcing bizarrely elastic batter through the tiny holes in my colander. I'm also choosing to forget just how much batter was on my counter, stove, apron, arms, spoons, bowls, colander and floor by the time I was done.

My problems began with my batter. I found a few simple recipes when I did a quick search for kasespatzle and just picked one and went ahead. It turns out that spatzle is one of those things where you really need someone to show you how it should feel. The recipe I started with didn't include this vital information (in fact most of them don't). Some further searching, while my batter was resting, turned up this blog post with some wonderful pictures showing how the batter should be, along with a nice description of it; that post is probably the only reason I actually managed to make spatzle. There is no way the batter I'd started with could have been forced through anything. At all. Ever.

Just before settling in to write a few minutes ago I decided to check Smitten Kitchen for a spatzle recipe (I'd been reading her gnocchi recipe earlier). Why do I not visit there when I'm looking for useful cooking information? Not only does she have a recipe for spatzle, she did comparisons between different recipes and methods and even specifies how big the holes you're supposed to force this batter through should be (note - the holes in my colander are smaller than that). Reading her recipe and recommendations I think I might actually try making spatzle again one day (when I get a spatzle maker). Which would be nice because kasespatzle is really good.

My research revealed that kasespeatzle has only three important elements - spatzle, cheese and caramelized onions - and the only variation is the method of combination. Sometimes they were just tossed together, sometimes they were layered in a casserole, sometimes the onions were only on top … determined, as far as I could tell, by taste, tradition, and how long you're willing to wait for your dinner. I opted for the "toss it all together in a casserole and put it in the oven for a bit" method. This meant we would have a crust of cooked cheese on top of the spatzle. It also meant that I was able to have a much desired nap between making the spatzle and setting the table.

I'm writing a blog post about Käsespätzle but it isn't going the way I want. Fortunately while I've been staring at my computer this wonderful box arrived. This is a Fiddlehead Mittens kit from Tanis Fiber Arts. I've been wanting to order one of these for ages and when I saw they were going to be discontinued I realized it was time to act. Yarn in the mail is always fun but somehow a kit is even better. I'm going to have some fancy mittens this winter. I love that Tanis always puts a postcard in with your yarn too. They're always bright and colourful and something I can send off to someone else to brighten their day.