Best of CEiMB - May 7, 2009

Garden Risotto

Well, the pool for choosing best of's this week was small. There were only 12 posts (including myself) this week out of our blogroll of 29. What's up everyone? Do I smell? Is it my breath?

Anyway, I am sure that everyone is busy doing this or that. I hope nobody is dealing with anything too serious that is keeping them from our blogiverse. That said, I hope to see many of you back soon. It is much more fun when everyone participates.

Mini guilt trip over. Now onto the accolades.

BEST PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

This week best photo goes to Andrea of You Eat Now for her spoonful of risotto.



Runner up photo goes to Mary Ann of Meet Me In The Kitchen. If you read Mare's blog then you know that her photography is always top notch.



BEST POST OF THE WEEK

This week, best post goes to 2 ladies, Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen and Peggy of Pantry Revisited.

I know that there are two schools of thought when it comes to making risotto - some people find it enjoyable and relaxing and some people find it enraging and stressful. Jen and Peggy really illustrated those differences in their posts and I found it quite entertaining.

Peggy had this to say:

I love to eat risotto. I always hesitate to make it though. It is just the “time” thing. You cook, you stir, you cook, you stir, you cook some more...Having said that, with a glass of wine in hand, there is something incredibly relaxing about making risotto. Add a little broth, drink a little wine, stir. Add a little more broth, drink more wine, stir. Add wine, drink broth, stir. Taste risotto, slide down on floor where wine spilled, stir. Stir, drink wine, broth add. Yeah, you can tell I had fun with this one!

And on the flip side, Liz shared her frustrations:

I tried to enjoy the process of making it. I tried, but I’m now convinced that risotto and I are not compatible in any way. I do not find joy or peace in the process nor am I able to appreciate the steam facial I receive while standing over a pot of rice that simply refuses to absorb all the broth I’ve poured into its pan... Try as I might to convince the rice to be more absorbent, try as I might to convince it that it was taking too long, I just could not get this done in 18 minutes. I decided not to time myself, but I felt like I was in the kitchen for days, and I’m pretty sure I got carpal tunnel from all the stirring. The thing I hate most about making risotto is that I feel chained to it, like I can’t stop stirring for even a moment or it starts to bubble at me in anger.

Awesome job everyone! Have a wonderful weekend :)