Today I woke up at 6 am... ok 6:20 (yeah, I slept in a bit.  What!) and it was still pitch black outside.   I left to bike to work at 6:50 am and, Yup, it was still dark.  Not pitch black.  Not dead of night black but dark.  I needed bike lights.  In fact, it wasn't until well after 7 am that it began to lighten up a bit.
It's coming people.  The long dark of Winter.  This is a hard time for me.  D actually uses a light box from now and takes generous amounts of Vit D to deal with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  When you grow up in the West Indies there are no time changes, no times of the year when it's dark more than it's light.  The Sunrise/Sunset is pretty much the same all year round.  Heaven!  Not here though and it's a lot to grapple with.  Seasons are beautiful, for sure.  They are not easy though.


I did however, manage to get myself to a breakfast meeting that I'm pretty happy about.  Over the last year, I've begun to help out at school with our Eco Club.  We have been working away at our little corner of the planet to raise awareness and make our corner a more sustainable place.  Last year we got some funds from TD Friends of the Environment Fund to get a Vermi-Composter for one of our classrooms.  TD FEF, in turn, invited us to this breakfast which was attended by fund recipients and donors alike.  We heard about upcoming initiatives and got to give our input about where we think funds  should be allocated.  It's kind of heartening to feel surrounded by other people who care about something  as passionately and deeply.  It's easy for us to feel like we are working alone, to get isolated and depressed about it.  Today I walked away feeling like I'm not alone, like there is always hope and like I could maybe get some more money ;-)
Thanks to TD for caring and to our little SMCS Eco Club and Mme LoCurto for keeping the flag held high.

This, as you might have guessed by now, has nothing to do with the Risotto.  You gotta trust me though, the Risotto was good.  I made it with homemade chicken stock and the chicken that I used in the risotto was all chicken that came off of the 4 chicken carcasses that I used in the stock.  Yeah, I'm pretty proud of how resourceful that was... for sure!


Chicken Risotto with Shitake and Leek
serves 5 - 6

6 - 7 cups chicken broth, heated
3 cups diced or shredded chicken
2 cups Shitake Mushrooms, halved
1 medium leek, sliced thin
1 cup peas (frozen or fresh)
2 cups Risotto Rice
3 - 4 tbsp butter
salt to taste
1/2 - 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cream

Keep the chicken broth heated in a medium sized pot.
Heat a larger pot and add in the butter and leek.  Sauté for a few minutes.  Add in the Shitake mushrooms and heat for about 4 minutes or until things are wilting just a bit.  Add in the rice and mix in the butter/veggie mixture for a couple of minutes, until the rice is coated with butter.


Begin to slowly add ladles of the broth.  Stirring in between each ladle full.  Once the liquid simmers down a bit add in another ladle full.  Once you get close to the end of the broth (check the rice as you are going to see if it's done or not) add in the chicken and peas.


Let that heat with the last few ladles of broth.  Add in the parmesan cheese and cream.  Add salt to taste.