Barilla- Stelline pasta shapes.

What I picked up when in Venice.

On a random grocery stop at just EUR$0.98.

Barilla pasta of all variants and my little brother found these curious star shaped ones.

Of course I squealed in delight! :)

No, really. I squealed.

Judge me not.

These were much too cute!

But we weren't sure how we could eat these miniscule pasta shapes so we only bought two boxes.

Having done some research (Hello Google?)

I've found out that Stelline is actually a classic pasta shape from Northern Italy.

And these are one of the pasta shapes every Italian child grows up with.

-How fortunate!-

Apparently, these tiny stars with a hole in the center are perfect for broth based soups.

Especially hearty chicken and vegetable soups.

Well I didn't actually do any research when I popped open the box.

So I decided to simply throw a handful of these into my regular fusili just to see how they'd turn out.

Anddddd.

They cook really quickly! Seeing how small they are.

And they taste just like pasta should.

Now the point really is-

I've had a paradigm shift in my ideas of reaching for the stars.

Or actually, finding that bit of happiness.

A contentment with life.

Stelline pasta.

Sometimes. That's all it takes. :)