Yes, Risotto Can Be Easy to Make

        I've been doing a tremendous amount of reading lately. It's tremendous to me, anyway, because I haven't read this many books in a row in a long, long while. To name a few... "Before I Go to Sleep", a debut novel by S. J. Watson about a woman with an unusual type of amnesia, was (in my humble opinion) incredible. Definitely makes my All-Time Favorites list -- I couldn't put the darned thing down. Then, after a recommendation from my Zia Nadia, I finally finished reading "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay, a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust. It was very good but incredibly sad, which is to be expected. I was almost in tears toward the ending of the book. Why did you tell me to read this, Zia, WHY?! Why couldn't I read a book about sunshine and rainbows?!  

        I have some great news. I bought a new camera -- the Canon Rebel T2i. I've had my eyes on this baby for a while, and I'm so happy to call it my own. From now on, all the photographs on my blog will be taken with my new camera, including the photos of the delicious and easy-to-make risotto I have to share with you today. 

Easy Buttery Risotto

Don't Forget the Chicken

        I've never been the best person to remember things. Lately, my memory has been especially terrible. Either that or someone's pulling a practical joke on me, in which case he or she is probably laughing it up somewhere. 
        See, I'll walk around with something important in my hand (i.e. my cell phone, which I lose on an almost daily basis) and then it just disappears. Vanishes. Out of thin air. I'll go to use my phone and realize my hands are empty, yet I can never remember having put the darned thing down. I would call it and listen for the ringtone, except it's always turned off somehow. A few days or even weeks later my phone will turn up in some bizarre place, like in my sock drawer, or in the little bag where I keep my toothbrush. How does this happen? I have no idea.

Oven-Fried Chicken

Like a Big Pizza Pie

        That's amore...
        Pizza. While dessert is often incredibly hard to pass up for most people (deep down, we all know we should), there are still delicious savory foods that succeed in having the same effect on us. For me, one of these foods is pizza. Particularly homemade pizza. Even more particularly, my Mom's homemade pizza. Pair that with a from-scratch pizza dough made with love, and you've earned my heart.
        During the summer I went to Italy with my family -- an experience I had anticipated for years. Italy was too beautiful to be described in words and every meal was incredible. By the end of the trip, I thought I had eaten enough pizza (plus gelato every day) to last me a lifetime. As it turns out, I didn't, because here I am again in the same position… eating pizza.

Spinach Goat Cheese Pizza

My Sweet Life Has a Savory Side

        There's a time and a place for everything. No matter how much I love sugar and its sweetness, the two of us go our separate ways come dinner time. When I'm hungry, my tummy cries for nourishment in the form of a hearty meal and it's a need that no slice of cake (no matter how good) can satisfy. So, at around 6:30 P.M.--standard dinner time in my house--I yank out the sweet tooth, set it aside for later, have a seat at the table with my family, and consume the delicious savory dish that is my meal on that particular day.

        I often like to prepare dinner, not because I have to but because I want to. It isn't unusual for there to also be some sort of dessert made that same day we sit down to eat (I like to go all out), waiting somewhere very nearby for mealtime to end and transition into dessert time. That's when I pop the sweet tooth back in. Until then, though, I focus on what's in front of me. 
        During my last meal, I was faced with a pie. It wasn't a sweet pie (though I am certainly very familiar with those), but a savory pie. The ultimate savory pie... Chicken Pot Pie.

The Ultimate Chicken Pot Pie