AAH... PAELLA!!!

I am in heaven!  This coming Saturday Sea Squirt, two of our dear friends and I are going to crowd up in  a kitchen and make paella.  Just the mention of that word makes my heart race.  Knives will be flailing.  Stuff will be searing.  Yes, indeed, we will be slicing, dicing, smushing and gushing!

Paella and I go back a LONG time.  Over the summer of 1971, after I graduated from high school I back packed and hosteled my way across Europe.  When I found myself in Spain I discovered paella.  Oh, goddess, what a dish!  Every place I landed in had a different version of it.  Freaking heaven!!!  It's normally a sea food thing.  Fish, mussels, clams, shrimp.  You name it, it could go in there.  If you do it right you toss a whole lobster on the top of it.  But if you go 30 miles away it could be made with chicken and pork.  Let's just say that about the only thing you don't put in in paella is beef.  Rabbit, yes.  Beef, no.

I actually have 3 different paella pans.  Yeah, it needs its own sort of pan.  Mine are small compared to what I saw being used in Spain.  My largest one is about 20 inches across.  I saw ones in Spain with a footprint bigger than my car.  Hey, if you're gonna make paella, do it right.  You do not stir paella as much as you rake and shovel it.  There is no such thing as "a" paella recipe.  There are as many paella recipes as there are grandmothers.  It's kind of like "a" chili recipe if you know what I mean...

This weekend I will be doing a chicken, chorizo, three bean, saffron rice, lime, lemon, artichoke heart and black olive concoction that I find especially appealing.  And it is something that Sea Squirt can actually eat.  He has that shellfish allergy thing that just makes him explode like a puffer fish.  goddess, that must just suck!   Personally, I have been known to eat about 3 pounds of shrimp, oysters, clams and mussels in a single setting and wash it all down with a pitcher of beer.  Yeah, I'm pretty much a pig...

A kitchen, good friends, way too many sharp knives, boiling oil and the prerequisite bottle of tequila.  Someone is gonna get cut, burnt or scalded.  I just know it.  Luckily, another good friend of ours is a 911 operator.  We've given her a heads up.  We have her on speed dial...

Here's to Saturday!  Yes, a song in my heart, a tap dance on my toes and smile on my face...  What can I say, life just don't get no better than that!!!