Monday, November 05, 2007

holding on, excuse, risotto

An oak leaf hangs from a spider's web attached to a branch. It swings to and fro in the breeze, while other leaves float by.

Reading the papers is nearly always a chore. The only pleasure is finding an excuse to stop reading an article early on, because you come across something, which suggests that going on will not worth while. Today, for example, I read, in the first paragraph of an article about an impresario, that "he managed to bestride the global film industry like a Colossus". Bye bye.

If cooking is therapy, cooking a risotto is the best therapy. You feed the rice at intervals with ladles of hot broth, let the rice absorb the broth, stir and watch the rice swell, until it is al dente. As you stand over the pan, there is an immediate pleasure in the evolving dish, the smell and texture of it, and the anticipation of a meal to be shared.

3 comments:

Sara said...

I gave up on having the local paper delivered as it became another thing on my 'to do' list. It's strange how things that start out as pure entertainment can end up feeling like work. I wonder why that is?

Fire Bird said...

yes, that's just how it is with risotto. Tenderness repaid by tenderness

Unknown said...

The trouble with newspapers is that they have to be filled.And as everyone knows the news already nowadays, they are filled with opinion rather than facts. The nice thing about risotto is that it is immediate. And, as for filling, it is active rather than passive.