my dinner with Ken

My good friend Ken came over for dinner tonight and agreed to be my guinea pig . . .

For Christmas, Andrew and Erik gave me a gift certificate for The Wooden Spoon, and a couple of weeks ago I took a vegetarian Italian cooking class there. We made several things in class, including a mushroom risotto that I had been wanting to try on my own. I modified the recipe a bit using a vegetable stock and about half of the mushrooms, adding asparagus, and loading it with extra Grana Padano (a parmesan).

As Ken watched me stumble around the kitchen, we enjoyed a Gouda and a Jarlsberg (a baby Swiss).


Well, the risotto didn't quite turn out perfect . . . guess I need a little more practice. Maybe another guinea pig. Or two.

Roxie & Theo

Here's Roxie and Theo on the back porch, late last summer. Roxie looks a bit peeved, but I think the sun was just in her eyes. Theo was about eight months old at the time, and this was a rare moment of repose.

More photos to come . . .