Biking and a new favourite risotto

Training: Bike 20km

Today started a little differently than my Thursday mornings usually do.

Instead of hitting the gym for a pump class, I was up before the sun was to participate in the ACT Pedal Pursuit.

From the website:

"Combining business with pleasure, fun and fitness, and a slight competitive streak...ACT Pedal Pursuit promises to be a calendar highlight...years to come".

My work kindly sponsored a team to enter, so at the crack of dawn I lined up with 3 other workmates to take on the 20km team challenge (saving the longer 40km challenge for next year perhaps?).

It was freeeeezing while waiting for the sun to appear over the horizon, even with the 17 layers of clothing I had on that made me resemble something of a michelin man!!!

Aside from a little glitch in which my teammate discovered his tyre was flat with minutes until the start, the sun soon appeared, and we had a perfect morning bike ride.

The course was an out and back style, with a turnaround point at the 10km mark.

The course itself was undulating, with some sneaky hills thrown in, but the gorgeous country scenery was certainly enough to distract you when climbing.

   

 

We completed the loop in around 50 minutes, then it was back to reality and back to the office.Although we were participating for fun, and not for competition, it was a wonderful way to start the day and spend some time with bike-loving colleagues outside the office.

But today not only started on a good note, it also finished with a delicious dinner.

On the menu tonight??

Spinach and goat’s cheese risotto.

Or as I like to call it…

Heaven in a bowl :)

I followed Jamie Oliver's base risotto recipe (without any onion as I didn’t have any), which requires celery to be sautéed in olive oil and butter...

Followed by rice....

And stock (added in stages).

Cooked until the rice was tender.

Then it was time to add the fun stuff! aka – spinach sautéed in butter and garlic.

Grated parmesan...

Goats cheese and lemon juice.

Topped with lemon zest and extra goats cheese.

Resulting in a rich...

creamy...

and dreamy...

risotto!

   

Biking + a comforting bowl of risotto??? Sounds like a winning Thursday to me.

___________

PS. - Mr BBB and I have just started watching the "Carnivale" series on DVD. We picked it up totally randomly and hadn’t even heard of it before. Anyone seen it? Thoughts? It seems pretty good so far - definitely more than a little weird - but I get the impression it is going to have lots of 'ah-ha' moments as the plot plays out!

Happy Baking :)