I Like Food, I Don't Like You: Mushroom Risotto Among Other Things

It's been awhile since I've posted anything and the 3 people who read this blog have been wondering what's been going on. I suppose that the novelty of having my own kitchen has somewhat worn off and now that I'm cooking all the time it's just kinda like...meh. I keep thinking when I cook something new that I should take a picture of it and put it on my blog, but inevitably I just end up eating it and forgetting about the picture. That is why you will not see pictures of prosciutto and ricotta stuffed cappellaci with truffle cream sauce, chipotle hush puppies, or Mexican style "lasagna" made with chicken in a roasted tomatillo and cilantro puree layered with black beans and queso blanco. I do have a smattering of random pictures I remembered to take which are presented now:

Kimbap - It took me freaking hours to make this stuff. I never realized how much work it involved. Pretty though right?

Gyoza - Made these with Toki. She's responsible for them looking neatly crimped.

Recently I made something that demanded I take a picture of it, because I can safely say that it was the best dish I have ever made, and I'll probably never make anything as delicious ever again. When I go home over the holidays to Lafayette and I see the popular high school kids at the Round-Up (local dive bar) because they never left town I always used to enjoy how hilariously depressing their lives were. Now I understand what it's like...I've peaked and from here on out it's all downhill. Ah well...here are the steps to making porcini mushroom risotto.

Night before: Open porcini mushrooms brought back from Florence that were GhettoVac Packed (TM). This involves sucking the air out of a ziploc bag containing dried porcinis until the air and porcini dust are solidly in your own lungs, no longer in the bag. Soak.

Heat liquid and chicken stock in pot. Briefly toast arborio rice in olive oil. Open bottle of white truffle infused olive oil snuck through customs in shoe and curse euro-dollar conversion rate, then add a few drops to pan shortly before addition of dry white wine. Slowly incorporate stock/soaking liquid mixture into pan.

When rice is nearly finished absorbing liquid, lightly chop and add porcinis to pan. Add pat of butter, then open jar of white truffle butter which cost too much (optional: curse euro exchange rate again) but take comfort in the fact that you bought the good stuff and didn't end up with the monosodio glutamato-laden mystery paste your sister bought. Hahahahahahahaha sucker. Add small spoonful of MSG-free white truffle butter to pan.