First attempts at pasta making

The ravioli making tray that I bought at a garage sale on the weekend has really piqued my desire to make our own pasta. You know how I have this OCD thing about making EVERYTHING possible from scratch?  Yes, I'm beginning to admit that I could have an obsession.

My friend Stacey offered to loan me her pasta machine, so there was no stopping me this morning. As usual,  I went at it like the proverbial bull at the gate, stopping only briefly to read some instructions on the pasta machine box.
I took to the pasta making and the winding bit like an old hand, although I must say that one extra hand would be handy. Three hands is definitely better than two when winding pasta through the machine and then trying to catch and guide it on the other side as it comes out.
Anywho, so then I laid some thin pasta sheet onto the ravioli tin.  Only at this point did I wonder if I was supposed to have greased or floured the tin, but I carried on regardless. In for a penny, and all that!
I always have quark (creamy cottage cheese, European style) in the fridge, that I make from the raw cow's milk, so I mixed a bit with a crushed garlic clove, salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and piled it into the little indents in the ravioli tin.
Another sheet of pasta went over the top after brushing the edges with milk to make the two sheets stick together.
Rolling the little rolling pin didn't quite go as planned, but I won't go into all the details. Suffice to say, it was the devils own job trying to get each little square ravioli out of the tin.
After considerable time wasted, and beginning to wonder if this is really worth the effort, I took a deep breath and attempted another batch.
The tin required some scrubbing with a toothbrush to remove all of the stuck on bits around the edges, and when it was perfectly clean and dry I dusted the tin with flour.
Maybe if I had read some instructions, or asked Mr Google, I would have realized this in the beginning.

The second lot looked almost perfect and were much easier to remove from the tray.

Erm... quite a difference when I learned how to do it properly.

Dinner tonight, with a creamy bacon and tomato sauce. (Our bacon, cream and tomatoes, but I bought the onion)
Covered with the sauce, the odd shapes were indistinguishable from the perfect ones. Phew....and the flavors were so good.

Accompanied by a salad, all from the garden, and some feta from our cow's milk. Dressed with a honey, balsamic and olive oil dressing. Home made of course.. our honey, Brian's balsamic vinegar, and olive oil from a neighbor. The pumpkin pieces got a little over roasted when I got distracted with something outside, :-/  but the flavor was still there.
The flavor of the pasta was amazing, so I'm now on the hunt for a pasta machine.
I'm not so sure I'll use the ravioli tray much though,  as it seems it would be just as simple to make little rounds with a biscuit cutter, and with none of the bother of trying to remove the filled ravioli portions from the tray, as suggested by some of the comments from my previous blog post.
Thanks too for the great recipe suggestions and pearls of wisdom shared by the comments there.