Kitty bookmark and the very first recipe I learnt

I wanted to make a bookmark for my daughter to go along with a book I´m sending to her. She loves to read and that is something we want to encourage in her.

And then I saw Aly´s challenge this week and right away knew what I wanted to do. This week´s challenge is to show all our Kitty cats and my DD loves cats, so it was the perfect challenge.

I found Dawn Moore blog a few days ago and when I saw her Kitty I knew I was going to use it to make something for Maria. Kitty made the perfect complement for Bee Crafty stack of books that I wanted to use for a bookmark someday. I colored the images with colored pencils as usual and applied some body shimmer dust on the pages instead of coloring them. On the back I used clear stickers for the words and the pencil.

The other day I prepared the first recipe my mom taught me: Risotto. It always brings me good memories... I remember a very young me (13 y-o) so nervous because I had to feed the family that day and it was going to be my first solo in the kitchen... but then once it was done it didn´t tasted so bad... so I remember feeling myself very pleased with the result.

And over the years it´s one of my favorites. The recipe is somehow simple and you can add whatever you fancy at the moment or whatever you have at hand. The best rice to make a good Risotto is arborio rice but here is not easy to find, so I subtitute it with a creamy like rice, use a rice that the grains look rounded like this one. The recipe follows like this: start measuring the rice (I usually have a small glass as the size for a serving) and set aside. Prepare some broth, chicken, vegetable or meet, whatever you like, bring it to boil and lower the heat to simmer but be sure to have 3 times at least in volume the amount of rice. Put some olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan to heat. Chop 2 small onions or 1 medium, put it in the pan stirring well so it doesn´t get burnt. Add to the pan 1 clove of garlic finelly chopped and keep cooking them a few more minutes. Now add the rice and fry it slightly until it gets a light brown shade and it´s very hot. At this point you have to be careful because you can burn everything, so don´t leave it alone. Add the simmering broth at least half of it, stir and when it start boiling again lower the heat and let it simmer covered about 15 minutes, or until the rice it´s almost done. You´ll have to add more broth as the rice cooks, be sure it´s always with some extra liquid so it doesn´t dry. Turn off the heat and let it stand 5 minutes. Add a tablespoon of butter and some shredded cheese (whatever cheese you like) before serving. You can be creative with this recipe, so don´t be afraid to try different kind of rices, add vegetables like mushrooms, sweetpeas... or add some meat, chicken... have fun in the kitchen also!