Yesterday (Wednesday) I made my first paella.  Well, I watched and now I know how.  I woke up 

at around 9:40 because Wed I dont have class until 3pm.  It is my sleep-in day!  After I woke up Aurora asked me if I wanted to accompany her to do the buying for the paella that we would be making and eating later.  So, off we went to Mercadona, a supermarket here.  We went straight to the fish counter, which to me smells terrible and in all the supermarkets I always avoid it.  First we bought a huge squid with all the ink still all over it.  It had to be cleaned but Aurora said the ones that arent cleaned have more flavor (more ink?) then we bought two filets of whitefish and the lady cut them apart and left the heads on, I wonder when that will show up on my plate!  THen we bought a chunk of tuna.  I felt stupid for not knowing that a tuna is a HUGE fish.  The thing was like 5 feet long and a foot wide and we just got a big red chunk of it.  Then we got some clams.  Then we also got some big gambas which are like shrimp only bigger and you suck the brains out and eat them.  Personally I dont think you get enough meat off it to count for anything.  THe ladies that work behind the counter at the fish part of Mercadona are brave ladies.  Or maybe they are just Spanish so they are more accustomed to raw food in the sense that nothing they buy here is frozen.  The fish have heads and dont come from a bag.  They were choppin heads left and right and pulling out skeletons and wiping off ink from the squids.  They were removing eyeballs and they have to go home every night smelling horrible.  Yikes.  Anyway afterwards we bought a big sausage and then we bought some cookies and left.  Aurora wanted to go in one of the Chinese stores just to browse because we were "good on time" as she said.  I had to eat by 1:30 to get on the bus by 2 and even then I am always rushed on Weds.  But we just browsed.  She bought a candle, because she loves candles because they hide the smell of tobacco in the  house.  She doesnt like her new candle as much as the Sweet Pea flavor one she has from White Barn Candle Co, but luckily my mom is mailing her one!!

Then on our way home we stopped by the tobacco store so Aurora could buy some more cigarettes, and reluctantly, i entered.  I hate the tobacco shop obviously but the lady that works there is interesting and we ended up having a long conversation about how only hoosiers really smoke in the US and how its really taboo and "malvisto" (seen as bad).

Aurora says when she went to NYC she didnt know where to throw her cigarette when she was done because even the streets in NYC arent littered with cigarette buts and trash like the streets in Alicante. I said duh!!!  Oh Alicante... God love it.

Also, Grandma sent me a letter for Valentines Day and asked me if she had heard right that I dont have a dryer! OF COURSE I DONT HAVE A DRYER!  They dont have them here.  In Madrid maybe because it snows.  The coldest it ever gets here is like 45 degrees and thats extreme.  Plus its sunny almost every day, so everything dries on the line. I actually just took a bunch of my stuff down off the line.  We also don't have AC or heat so whatever the weather is outside, it also is inside.  

It is dinnertime here when I am writing this and I just made myself scrambled eggs in the microwave because I wasnt sure which pan to use.  Then I had some bread with jam also.  Earlier for a pre dinner I had an orange (to die for!) and an apple. Auroras out for a beer with her cousin Juana down the street so she told me to just go in the fridge and make whatever I want.  

So back to the PAELLA.  Here is the recipe....keep on high heat the whole time:

1. Fry half a red pepper in about 3/4 inch of olive oil in a frying pan.

2. Then put in the squid. And fry it.

3. Mash 2 tomatoes with a cheese grater in a bowl.

4. Put in 3/4 inch chunks of tuna(like half a bowlful..).  (cooks very fast)

5. Add parsley 

6. Put in grated (pulpy) tomatoes and let them fry to one side of the pan.

9. Then actually mix them in. 

10. Add the clams and when they open you know they are cooked.

11. Add enough water to fill the entire pan, but note how much you add.

12. Add salt, and add gambas (the shrimplike/prawnlike things) after peeling them slightly (just breaking the backbone and removing the legs, ..leave eyes, brain, and shell to be removed later).

13. Add orange food coloring.

14. After moving the mixture to a paella pan,  Add 1/2 as much rice as you have water. Use a 1/2 kilo of rice for 5 people. (must be fresh rice, in bag, not instant)

15. Cook on high heat for 10 minutes, then on low simmering heat for 10 minutes.  Cover with a towel. 

THE PICS ARE OUT of order, but click for bigger!

QUE RICA! DELICIOSA! QUE SABROSA!  

Auroras son Jose Carlos came over for lunch today, so I ate with him.  We had our paella with a lim flavored beer.  It was delicious also.  Then I had to run to get on the bus for class.  We talked about the US for awhile and he said I spoke very well.  I love being able to have intelligent conversations with people in another language.  It is satisfying.

Miss you all, love you!