The Labor of Homemade Noodles

I have a precious little notecard written in my Mama's penmanship. It is inside a plastic pocket so it can't get kitchen dirt all over it. It is her recipe for homemade Noodles. (Her noodles deserved a capital 'N'.) The best part is up in the top right corner she wrote, "Mom".

Homemade Noodles

There are only four ingredients: egg yolks, flour, salt and warm water. You would think this would be the easiest recipe I have. How can you go wrong with four ingredients? Believe me, you can! Because it is all in the labor it takes to make the noodles.

I believe it was as Paul described: "Your labor prompted by love," (1 Thessalonians 1:3b NIV). Mama's noodles were always made with love for her family or guests.

I've had 45 years to practice her recipe. The first 10 years I was too intimidated to try, then when I did try the result was not "Mama's noodles". It is easy enough to mix the ingredients in spite of the amounts being a little nondescript (1/2 cup warm water or less). It is the process that is tricky. "Knead until smooth. Roll very thin. Let dry and cut." It is the 'very' that got me from the beginning. It took me several years of trying to find out she actually meant "paper-thin". Almost. How much do you knead? How smooth? How thin? How dry? Cut how? I only knew the answer to one of those questions because I watched her cut the noodles hundreds of times in my life. But all the others I just had to try and fail and try and fail and finally got close enough to serve to my family. I'm getting closer to "Mama's noodles" every time I make them. It is all about the labor involved.

Rolling out the noodles requires arm strength and patience. I roll the noodles out, then keep rolling until I think they can't get any thinner, then roll some more. This is just the way my mother did noodles. I'm sure everyone who had a mother that made noodles has a different version.

"Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you," (1 Thessalonians 2:9 NIV).

I'm sure Mama made noodles so often because they were cheap to make. She usually had chickens to provide the eggs. She would make an angel food cake which used the egg whites and have the yolks for noodles. They went together because nothing got wasted in her lifetime.

I've lived 20 years without my Mama, and I can't forget her labor. Thank you to all the mothers who labor with love for their family; you are appreciated. Thank you to all the dads who labor tirelessly for their families; you are amazing. And to everyone who works, may you always work with love as the goal. God bless laborers today and always.