Tuesday, April 18, 2006

So I'm selfish. I can live with that.

It's still incredibly busy out there, but over the weekend I decided to be selfish and take a few days off.

I didn't get offered any work, so I didn't turn down anything down for Monday or today, I just didn't didn't make any effort to get on the phone and see who's hiring.

A friend of mine called on his way into work and was shocked that I was at home, stirring risotto and getting ready to put a movie in and relax when everyone else in town is standing on a set somewhere.

I know that I have to make hay while the sun shines - but at some point, I just can't anymore and have to take some time to rest.

Four days in a row (five, counting tomorrow) has felt like a six week vacation, and I really needed that.

I'll make work calls tomorrow.

3 comments:

writergurl said...

It's not selfish to take care of one's mental health! We all need a few days off. It's good for your soul!

Anonymous said...

That's awesome, especially considering the foot problems. Share your risotto recipe?

Peggy Archer said...

writergurl - It's true. I talked to a friend on the phone and she said I sounded much better than I did last week - not just the cough, but more like a human being.

carly - I use turkey or beef stock (Real stock, not the cubes), arborio rice (special for risotto), garlic, a bit of rosemary (especially with beef stock - rosemary's about the only thing that's not overpowered by beef stock), and a spash of red wine.

One cup of rice and enough stock to get it to consistency and it's great.

Note to vegetarians: If you can, find roasted vegetable stock. It's WAY better than plain veggie stock, and for fuck's sake don't use those nasty little cubes.

Something I learned from reading Ruth Reichl (a terrific food writer who's written some great books): put a bit of oil and garlic in a pot, heat, and add the rice. Stir to coat the rice grains with the oil, and then add one cup of stock. Stir until the stock's absorbed and then add another cup. stir until that's absorbed. Repeat until you get that risotto consistency - creamy, but not mushy.

This method is damn near foolproof. The only ways to screw it up are:

a) if you don't stir constantly, the risotto will burn to the bottom of the pan, and good luck scraping it off.

b) if you over cook it, it'll turn to mush.