Risotto me this...

It’s that time of year when the leaves are all burnt oranges and gold (we don’t get a lot of trees in this region with red leaves) and pumpkins are being sold in the farm shops and grocery stores.

I think I’m going to stop this evening on the way home and buy a pumpkin. I wasn’t planning on carving it for Halloween as I have a pretty decent ceramic one in the window; what I’m planning is to chop it up and use it to try out a few new recipes (as well as toast the seeds - yummy). It seems that almost every food blog I visit these days boasts a gorgeous looking dish that features pumpkin and most call for canned pumpkin. Unfortunately canned pumpkin is not easily found here; the alternative is to use fresh pumpkin which is probably a better option anyway. Since pumpkins will only be found locally until the end of October, I'd better get a move on.

I’ve printed off a recipe for pumpkin risotto that I’m keen to try. I’ve had all the ingredients for a risotto for some time however I haven’t endeavoured to make it as I’m told risottos can be quite tricky. I thought I might as well give it a try with pumpkin as my sister-in-law raved about the one she’d had at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. I’m not sure if it’s a flavour I will enjoy, and I know it won’t come close to Jamie’s, however if I don’t try I won’t know.

I’m going to freeze the left over pumpkin pieces I have so if any of you have any recipes you’d like to share I’m all ears.

Because pumpkin doesn’t seem to be an overly popular flavour and therefore not readily available in the UK, I have also been a bit envious of the variety in latte’s that are available in Canada at the moment. Pumpkin lattes don’t seem to be on the menu at the coffee houses here, yet I wish they were so I could give them a try. I don’t need the extra calories, and I’m not even sure I’d like it, yet the option to sample it would be nice. Saying that, I did try the crème brulee latte at Starbucks on the weekend and found it a bit too sweet, even skinny style. I think I’m better off sticking with my skinny vanilla latte’s from Café Nero. (It’s the next best thing to the Second Cup, trust me).

On another note, I was dismayed to find that the local Starbucks is no longer offering the falafel wrap. When I asked the reason behind this I was told that it’s not a popular choice in this backwater town but I could still get it in the major cities. Nice, except I don’t live in or near a major city.

Wish me luck with the risotto!