My day wasn’t a complete loss yesterday. After sleeping off my post-low migraine, Mario and I headed into the city to wander around Granville Island. We didn’t really have a reason to go beyond wanting to get out of the house, but by the time we left the great market, we had purpose: Paella.
Paella on the barbecue is like Spain on my patio!
I’ve blogged about paella a few times over the last year and a half, but seriously I cannot get enough of this stuff. I was first introduced to it when in Barcelona two years ago and fell in love with its saffron, seafood, smoked paprika goodness, and because I have a husband who loves to experiment with his cooking (or maybe he’s just forced to because I don’t cook at all), the Christmas after that trip, I bought him an authentic paella pan online, Spanish rice, smoked paprika, jarred saffron, wrapped it up, and voila, the makings of paella. The perfect gift 😀 We’ve had it with seafood and with chicken and sausage, and for last night’s concoction Mario added a twist of prawns with eyeballs and cooked it on the barbecue instead of the stove. Scrumdiliumptious! And just like all the others, this one too had me dreaming of Spain: the colour yellow, gothic cathedrals, Eduardo, tiled walls, Gaudi, Las Ramblas, beer, butterflies, and one of the most beautiful languages ever.
¡Oh España, lo hago con amor!
And because of the seafood, yesterday’s adventure turned into a fishful adventure!
Better crabs in the water than crabs clamping my fingers.
Mussels are key to a good paella.
A blowfish teapot, how brilliant is that?
We weren’t quite brave enough to do the live spot prawns…
But the dead ones, like butter!
Sorry Scully, I cannot resist: Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up yum!
So while my day started out in the crapper, it most definitely ended brilliantly, with full belly and all … although, I kind of totally screwed up the carb count for the rice and ended up with majorly high blood sugars two hours later. Oops.
Do you have a favourite meal that reminds you of past travels?
Dish looks fabulous. I can smell it from here. Are you a true Barcelonian? Did you suck the juice from the prawn heads or just toss them away? It’s the prawn’s nectar. Mmm Mmm good.