Risotto Anyone?

Hello Everyone,

Last night, Joe and I were invited over to Kaaren and Clint's house for homemade risotto from scratch. What a fabulous treat and a most enjoyable evening! Kaaren and Clint recently returned from a two-month vacation in Italy. Kaaren, through observation and broken Italian and English, learned how to make risotto.

Let me set the scene here. Their home is absolutely lovely. When you step through the door, both Clint, Kaaren, and their home, give you a warm, inviting welcome hug. Kaaren is a quilter too, and this Sandy Gervais quilt is illuminated right by the front door. 

All we had to do was bring and appetizer or "nibble" as Kaaren calls it.  Joe and I made Shrimp on the Barbie!  Do you know how hard it is to find a Barbie-type doll in a small, winter resort community?

Do the shoes remind you of the ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz?  I had to take a picture of the shoes! Red leaf lettuce made a nice ruffled skirt for Barbie.

Kaaren started cooking with her special rice and extra special olive oil.  I now have all of her secrets and I'm anxious to make my own risotto.

Rice, mushrooms, pancetta, garlic, chicken broth and fresh rosemary were the ingredients.  It's the stirring and stirring that breaks down the starch which creates the sauce. (Smell-o-vision would send you over the moon about now.)  After about 30 minutes later dinner is almost ready.

Here we go, a hearty, filling and delicious serving of risotto topped with a generous handful of pecorino cheese. Add a salad, bread, wine and life is good.  We thought we had died and gone to heaven.

Our hosts, Kaaren and Clint sitting across from us at their long, farmhouse table in their kitchen. 

Thank you so much for the delightful evening.  I'll have to put on my thinking cap to come up with a dinner as good as this one when it's our turn to host Kaaren and Clint.  There's no way I can possibly top the dinner we had last night!

As always,

Lynn