Paella!

I finally took the plunge and tried cooking paella last night. I'd been fascinated by the dish since my first encounter with it in a Cuban restaurant in mid-town Manhattan. It was really a slice of heaven -- great tasting rice with sausage and seafood on top, all served in a huge platter. I was further intrigued by the fact that saffron is required to make it, saffron being that really expensive spice. Anyway, the paella I made ended up okay ... not spectacularly flavorful or anything but still something I was pretty pleased with. (And by the way, that glass of pink juice in the background, is grapefruit. It's our drink of choice now since we can get 18 pound bags -- about 20 + grapefruit -- for five bucks ....)

Those burnt bits of rice from the bottom of the pan are supposed to be highly prized .... Given that connection, I now tend to think of paella as a Spanish version of claypot chicken rice. I guess that's one way to navigate around a world of food ....

There we have it -- the world's most expensive spice. I managed to get this one gram jar for about 5 bucks. Which means an ounce of the stuff costs well over 100 dollars ...!