Pumpkin Risotto

I love autumn in the Pacific Northwest. Leaves on only a few trees change colours in the evergreen state, and when you stumble upon one, it’s a treasure. Sunny days also must be treasured by pulling on a sweater and a scarf, taking a stroll, and soaking in the crisp chill of the air. But the rain provides a nice break, a chance to hole up wherever you may call home and cook, write, play music, read a book, or make art. So if you’ve ever wondered why the PNW gives birth to so many creative people, blame it on the rain. There’s also small local farms dotting the landscape, so on a sunny day, you might find yourself at a farm picking pumpkins. And the next day, when it’s grey and raining, you might find yourself making pumpkin risotto.

Pumpkin Risotto

Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup and Roasted Tomato Soup with Hot Pepper Cream

If you ask me what holiday I love most, I will respond “Thanksgiving.” I know, I know, it’s a horrible bastard of a colonized holiday. But for me, it’s just a time to cook for 2 days and share time and food with my good friends. For the last 5 years, I’ve hosted a “friends only” feast, and last year's was by far the most impressive. A full 5-course meal for 16 people, from appies too dessert, and way too much wine in between. The meal lasted 5 hours, including a rock band break before dessert. There was much laughter, much swearing (we all had name tags with pseudonyms like “Fuck Face” and “Ho’ Bag” adorning our shirts) and way too much drinking. I’m not one for traditional celebrations. At any rate, I’ve been meaning to post recipes from last Thanksgiving for about 11 months now. What can I say? I’m a procrastinator. At any rate, it’s high time I posted them, so here’s the first in a long awaited series of recipes from the Thanksgiving 2009 extravaganza!

Course one: Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup and Roasted Tomato Soup with Hot Pepper Cream