King of Risotto

Ever since meeting my friend, Alejandro, I feel like I’ve had my own personal chef. For the last few months I’ve been eating like a king, as he feels compelled to spoil us, his friends, with his delightful cakes, pastas and risottos.

Last night however, he went the extra mile and prepared us a four course tasting dinner; conjuring up two different risottos: a red wine and a pumpkin risotto as well as two different pastas: pesto and tartufo(truffle) linguine. I should add that the pesto was made by hand in a pestle and mortar and took at least 45 minutes of effort. A lot of sweat went into making that pesto; but man! The end result, was well worth the effort.

Everything was cooked to perfection and particularly delicious. I may be a little fatter ,but I’m also a little bit happier inside. To round the dinner off, Xav decided to open a fantastic 14 year old Fairview Cabernet Sauvignon, which my father insisted I give to someone who would appreciate it and to use for a special occasion. I don’t drink red wines because of the tannins and my resulting red-face-glowing-party-trick, but even I had a sip…it was superb and I imagine that’s what all red wines should taste like.

The funniest thing, I find, is that Alejandro always ends up thanking us for eating his food! I think that eating the food is the easy part. “Gracias mi hermano”, for the amazing dinners.