Arroz Con Leche + friends
Eric & I decided we wanted to throw one last get together with some of our out-of-town friends in our beloved little apartment before moving. I originally figured we'd grill out and enjoy the patio, but the weather didn't cooperate with that idea. So, when we woke up to rain on Saturday morning we had to change our food plan. After debating for a while, we decided on doing two kinds of empanadas, rice, lime curd with cookies, mojitos, and arroz con leche, or rice pudding. We spent the morning being lazy, and the entire afternoon in the kitchen. The rain made it the kind of perfectly cozy sort of day to spend in the kitchen, so I wasn't even a little bummed we didn't get to fire up the grill. The rice pudding recipe I used came out of this book I got for Eric to read from the library. Eric is Cuban, and his mother spent part of her childhood growing up there. Thanks to this, we have all kinds of wonderful Cuban dishes in our family cookbook, and I'd even dare to say it's one of my most favorite types of food, so full of flavor, and it always makes our home smell delicious. The rice pudding recipe was a little time consuming, as you need to stir it periodically for an hour and a half, but easily the best I've ever eaten. 
Recipe adapted from Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile's Hunger for Home:1 cup of cooked rice8 cups of whole milk (or a half gallon- for those of you who are awful at remembering measurements and end up measuring out the whole half gallon container before realizing you could have just poured the whole thing in, not that i did this. . . )2 cinnamon sticks (I used 4- I really like cinnamon)the zest from one lime, peeled in strips3/4-1 cup of sugar, depending on how sweet you like things (I used closer to 3/4 a cup)4 tablespoons of butter1/4 teaspoon of salt2 teaspoons of vanillaPlace everything except the vanilla in a large enough pot. Bring it to a boil, and then turn down the heat to medium-low and let simmer for an hour and a half. Gently stir every once in a while, making sure the rice isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan. If it is, turn the heat down. Be especially vigilant in the last half hour, the starch really starts breaking down in that time.After an hour and a half it should have thickened dramatically. Pick out the cinnamon sticks & pieces of lime peel. Add the vanilla.Serve hot or cold- I ate it both ways, it was delicious both times.
As almost always with this group of friends, the night ended with a few games of telephone pictionary. If you've never played this- you seriously need to. If you say you're awful at drawing therefor don't play any games involving it, this one is perfect for you as well. The worse the drawing, the funnier the end result. Next time we play I'll document how it's done if you've never heard of it, or google it in the meantime. Our fridge is now decorated with some of my favorites from last night. (none of them being drawn by me- I'm one of those with a lack of drawing skills)
