I was doing a bit of blog-maintenance, today, and came across a rice cake I made last year. It sounded good, so I decided to make them, again.

I need to check my back posts more often – there are a lot of fun things on this site. I guess I’ve been in a bit of a rut with the holidays and all… Plus the weather hasn’t been cooperating… I’m in soup and stew mode but the weather isn’t.

But January usually invigorates me. Not for the New Year Resolutions, because I don’t make any. I’ve found the quickest route to failure is writing out resolutions. I just like the calm that comes after the holidays – and the weather is usually conducive to baking bread and settling down by the fire with a good book – or, my Kindle with a thousand or two books.

I’m beginning to find that while I love my Kindle for reading, I merely like it for cook books. I like it in the kitchen with a recipe, but I like holding a cook book for gathering ideas. Then, again, I like being able to have a score of cook books in my hand at any given moment, but sitting on the couch surrounded by cook books is heaven – until I have to put them away. It’s a conundrum, for sure…

Cook books are great for ideas – as are websites, blogs, newspapers, and magazines. I usually find it easiest to take an existing idea and play with it, rather than sitting down and starting from scratch. It’s why I have a difficult time making the same thing twice the same way…

Tonight’s rice cakes are a prime example… last time I made them I used a shredded cheese and sage. this time I used Boursin. They came out great!

Rice Cakes

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 pkg Boursin cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 cup bread crumbs

Cook rice in 2 cups of lightly-salted water and a pat of butter for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Place rice in a bowl and mix in cheese and egg. Add salt & pepper, if desired.

With wet hands, form into patties and dredge in bread crumbs.

Fry in grapeseed or other neutral oil until crisp on one side, flip, and cook the other side.

Leftover rice works, also.

The chicken is the most basic of basic dishes. I cut up 2 chicken breast and cooked them in 2 cups of chicken broth. I added a cup of heavy cream, a cup of frozen fava beans, and a cup of frozen mixed vegetables. A pinch of salt and pepper, and a pinch of poultry seasoning were all it needed, herb-wise.

I thickened it a bit more with some cornstarch. Simplicity.

2015 is just a few days away and I foresee another year of totally joyous recipes to talk about and share…

I can’t believe it will be ten years since I started this. It’s been a lot of fun. I wish I had taken screenshots of all of the various looks this blog has had in 10 years. I think I may have to look for some pictures…