Vacation is most definitely over.

Not only am I back to running (ugh), but I’m back to work.  And it seems everyone at my restaurant is out of town now that I’m back, so I’m on day four of about a million straight bar shifts.  No biggie, I have the whole day to get things done (sleep), clean up around the apartment (clean up the kitchen from my breakfast at noon), and take Gibson out for a run (I’ve only managed this one time since being home).

I am most definitely looking forward to my next day off.

But in the meantime, I’m replenishing my bank account and attempting to get back on track with my real-world life.  Despite my crazy work week, I managed to drag myself out of bed and accompany the Bar Pintxo guys to the market yesterday.  We desperately needed to restock our kitchen with fruits, vegetables, nuts, and raisins since we were out of town last Wednesday.

So I threw on my ‘Kel’s Market Gear’, which I wear almost every week that I’m hungover or exhausted but have to get up at 8am, and headed out to pick up a few things…

It might not officially be summer yet, but after my Florida vacation, the sunny and warm-ish weather we have been having here in SoCal, and the Memorial Day weekend – I am in full on summer mode.  And lucky for me, so is the Farmer’s Market!

My favorite new market addition?  Cherries!

Delicious cherries…

There’s nothing like a good Wednesday market to get me out of a working-like-a-crazy-woman funk.

Everything even smelled so good…

So Brad and I took our loot home with us and after a quick nap on the couch (I couldn’t resist…), I was starving.

We just happened to have some suckling pig leftover from a pig dinner Brad  cooked for on Memorial Day – a totally normal thing to have in your refrigerator – so I decided to switch up my famous risotto recipe a bit and make Suckling Pig Risotto.

Homemade pork stock, arborio rice, onions and garlic sautéed in butter, thyme from our garden, big chunks of roasted suckling pig..

It was rich and fabulous.

But, as usual, Brad had bigger ideas for my rich-as-sin risotto.  He took arugula, cherry tomatoes, radishes, sage, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and turned my brown mushy deliciousness into this masterpiece.

The vinegar and the fresh vegetables cut through the creamy risotto perfectly.  It was amazing, beautiful deliciousness.

Yum.

I was hoping to have a bit leftover for lunch today, but that risotto never stood a chance.  And therefore, I rode my bike very slowly up the hill to work yesterday with a belly full of risotto.

It’s weeks like these I wish I drank caffeine.  Four more days…

xoxo