I took him to the Greek restaurant, the Greek Islands in Ft Lauderdale.
When selection of the dessert came we had baklava and rizogalo ( rice pudding).

He loves it.. then it dawned to me I never made rizogalo after all the years I live in Greece.
In the good old days (oh I feel old) when we first arrived in Athens 25 years ago, every area has a local bakey that sells freshly made goods.

Yes local bakery still exist but its not as the same. I mean I can see delivery vans now bringing in the goods.

That time in Greece, when its Sunday, you could see people walking to the bakery with tapsi (baking dish) early morning with their meat and potatoes where the bakery do the roasting for you.

Then you see arrays of Greek desserts made with in… so I never made my own rizogalo. I buy them.
When I was in Florida, I was missing a lot of Greek food.
For my comfort there is the Greek Isles.

One of those forays, we had rizogalo and C loves it.

So I decided that I must learn how to do this simple yet terrific dessert especially that I love rice.

I know to whom I will ask the recipe from. We never met but we have been reading each other’s blogs for sometime now. She does not know me personally but have just given me support with my constant moving.

And I have dug her archives for recipes. Laurie lives in Alaska, married to a Greek, spends time in Greece and wrote a book, “Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska”.

She sent me a recipe but I never had the chance to look for the short grained rice I need for this recipe.
So I thought I can do this one when I have more time in Athens.. but never did. I was so busy when I was in Athens and I spent a lot of my time eating out.

Last week, when I was in Carrefour, doing my crew provision, I bought some cuttle fish and planned to do risotto. Right next to Arborio was another kind of rice. The label says riz special , dessert… my French is not bad after all..

I finally had the rice and the recipe so easy to follow.

Rice Pudding (Rizogalo)
Serves 6

1/2 cup short-grain rice
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. butter
4 cups whole milk, plus 2 Tbsp.
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, separated into white and yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
Ground cinnamon

In a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients, mix the rice, water, and butter, bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat down as low as possible, and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in two cups of milk, bring almost to the boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in 2 more cups of milk and the sugar. Simmer until the liquid is the thickness of heavy cream.

Whisk together the egg yolk, vanilla, and 2 Tbsp. milk, and quickly whisk this mixture into the rice. Remove the pot from the heat. Beat the egg white until it