Well, the cat is out of the bag on some pretty big Me News. I am leaving my job at Girl Scouts and moving on to a new position at Provenance Hotels, a.k.a. the company that owns the fabulous Governor, De Luxe and Lucia here in Portland, two hotels in Seattle, one in Nashville and more to come. I feel very fortunate to have worked at Girl Scouts for the past two years – you couldn’t ask for a nicer workplace or coworkers.

But I am also really, really excited about my new position. I’ll get to do some fun traveling and get to spend most of my time focusing on social media for all of the brands there. I start in about a week. So there you have it. Big changes are ahead! I’m so excited to work for some of Portland’s most well-loved and well-known brands. Anybody that knows me knows that I can talk anyone’s ear off about Portland and/or travel. I can’t wait to get to know each of the hotels’ unique personalities.

So that’s my small Me Update! In some additional Me News, I made some risotto. Callie and I were talking about food (again) and she gave me the idea to turn some as-yet-unassigned chanterelles into a risotto.

Why, oh why, do I wait so long in between risottos? They have a slightly longer cooking time than your average meal, but the effort pays dividends when you are savoring bite after bite of creamy, ricey goodness. And during a recent bout of genius, I realized that by using a bigger skillet, I reduced the cooking time as well. Why did I not think of this before?

Here’s what you need:

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3-4 cups water
• 2 cups chopped chanterelle mushrooms (yes, you could use other mushrooms! But I recommend trying what is in season in your area )
• 4-6 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• Salt and pepper

In a very large skillet, melt2 Tbsp. butter over medium heat. Add in the rice, stirring and cooking until the rice has become transparent around the edges.

Add in a cup of the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Hold at the simmer until the broth is mostly absorbed, and then add in the second cup of broth, the garlic and the mushrooms. Again, simmer until the liquid is absorbed.  Repeat with the wine and water, until the rice is done and full (if the rice is done before you have used all of the water, there’s no need to add it all).  This will take 20-30 minutes.

When the liquid is almost all absorbed, remove from the heat and stir in the other 2 Tbsp. butter, the Parmesan and a liberal dose of salt and pepper.  Serve in bowls.