let me entertain you

last night, i resurrected the months-dead tradition of the dinner party at my apartment, and quite by accident. i decided a while ago that i wanted to have friends over for dinner - two people who have recently moved to the city, who i thought would enjoy each other's company. well, one thing led to another - her boyfriend was visiting, i (without thinking) invited another friend, whose invitation required that i invite another friend, and another, who asked to bring a date, and so on - and i ended up feeding eight hungry people. all was well, though, because i had, in standard fashion, over-bought on the food and had just enough to feed everyone.

what did i feed them? well, i'm so glad you asked. i made my good old reliable seared salmon on baby spinach (with a tarragon-shallot cream sauce) and test drove a delicious sun-dried tomato risotto. for dessert, i tried out these figs with goat cheese and peppered honey, which turned out to be so-so (next time, i'll skip the pepper).

what's my point? my adventure in risotto got me thinking about the fabulous rice-to-end-all-rices (rice? rouse? eh). the roommate and i had made many variations of it before (our favorite was the hot-pink roasted beet risotto) but i hadn't done any serious research. so today, instead of working, i stumbled upon this poetic and informative tribute to the dish, which any foodies out there should read, but for those of you who don't feel like it, or are illiterate, here is my favorite quote:

You can't rush a good risotto, nor can you rush life. You just keep stirring. After a while, good things happen.

ah, so true.