Ultimate Blog Challenge - Everyone loves a good story / Porcini Risotto

Welcome back to another edition of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Today's theme is:

Everyone loves a good story.

True. The one I am going to tell you goes back to junior high. We had a cooking class. Our teacher was a lady who liked her food, and who was very particular about its preparation.

The class would start by her telling us what we were going to make today, and then she proceeded to have us correct the recipe in the book.

There were four stoves, two electric and two gas ones, and I always prayed my group was gonna be assigned to an electric one.

Our teacher would go from group to group and point out what we were doing wrong and have us clean up.

When it was time to eat she would join one of the four groups and be like "only a spoonful" and bashfully point to her hips. She wouldn't hold back with criticism, and we always felt she didn't eat because she didn't like our cooking. However, when it was time for dessert, she didn't hold back. 

There were no dishwashers of course, we had to do the dishes by hand. One person per group had to mop the floor, and she was breathing down our necks and tell us to do a more thorough job. More than once per class she would comment how she couldn't believe the mess we were making, and she was wondering if we were pigs like that at home?

One day she asked if two or three students minded going to her place and get a plant?

My friends and I volunteered. Every opportunity to escape the kitchen dragon was welcome.

"Here's the key. The plant is directly behind the door. Don't take too long."

Off we went. It was an apartment building. We were curious to see her flat. It must be so tidy, we thought. Its was on the second floor if I'm not mistaken. My friend turned the key and tried to push open the door. It didn't open all the way. 

Must be a large plant, we thought.

Nope. Behind the door she had stacked a couple of boxes. We took a few steps. The place was crammed with crap. Boxes, paper bags, household appliances. 

We were shocked. 

She kept telling us to be more organized, and this was what her place looked like?

We were looking around, less too find the plant, but to satisfy our curiosity and enjoy tthe gloating feeling.

We found a miniature plant on her living room table, but we were pretty sure that's not what she sent the three of us to get.

We left the apartment without the plant, locked the door and went down the stairs.

What were we supposed to tell her?

As we approached the main door of the apartment building we noticed - right behind the door, just as she had told us - the gigantic plant!

Shooooott!

We grabbed the thing and carried it back to school. Walking back we discussed if we should tell everyone or keep it to ourselves. I mean, we were teenagers, and she kept riding us hard. Then again, we were not supposed to enter her apartment, and if we started telling our friends, soon the entire school was gonna know, other teachers and her included. So we swore secrecy. 

Until today ;-)

Colin - remember he's still in quarantine, even though he is back to normal - attends some classes via Zoom or Teams, but mostly he enjoys some online gaming with his friends who also are down with the virus. Today, his classmates have cooking class.

My teacher has retired many years ago. She still lives in town, and we see her from time to time. She is a regular at the café I used to work at. One thing I learned from her and still observe is too do a mile-en-place, prep all the ingredients and utensils you need.

Colin's teacher is somewhat of a health nut. She eats vegan, gluten free, sugar free, and maybe even more. She never eats the same food as the students.

Today they made Risotto, and I said to Colin we were going the same at home. And he did a good job.

We had leftover Three Kings Cake (that I had put in the freezer back then) for dessert, and I told the story of my teacher, her eating habits and her apartment. We had a good laugh, and I thought, you might enjoy it, too.

PS: we had four pieces left. We are three people. Nobody got the tiny king. It must be in the last piece. True story!