A complete Lío....A Paella update.

 

It has taken me a while to write about this...this want to be paella failure. It is hard to know how to even begin. I would like it on the record that I generally make good paella. However this was the opposite of good (It all got eaten by my family but I did not have more than a 1/2 serving at best)

So I have 3 mostly irrational fears. Anyone who has known me for a while if familiar with my list.

• Lions: This one stems from the Houston Zoo. When I was in college I went to the Zoo with one of my friends and the sidewalk we were on descended into a tunnel. That tunnel was an observation window into the lion enclosure. There was a male lion sitting on a ledge watching the few people who passed through the tunnel. And let me be clear, no one was lingering because the lion was so unnerving. He was very calmly assessing the prey (humans) passing through his purview. He was so clearly the predator and we were his prey. He made it clear that I would not survive any encounter with him in his territory, From that day on, lions fall into my category of mostly irrational fears.
• Sharks (in a swimming pool). Yeah, I know. This one is harder to put my finger on. But anytime I am swimming laps and I close my eyes (Always happens as the meditational nature of swimming kicks in for me) IF I transition from the shallow end to the deep end while my eyes are closed then the first thing that crosses my mind when I open my eyes is SHARK!. Yup. This one may be more irrational than the others but still sharks are dangerous. Much like the lion, we are simply prey.
• Hotdogs: My complete distrust of processed meats started very young. My mom used to tell a story about how I wouldn't eat potted meat (look it up if you don't know) as a small child. My reason was and I quote myself here, "Meat shouldn't do that". This firm belief extends to hotdogs. 9 out of 10 times I have gotten sick after eating a hot dog. Food poisoning is not my friend and even tofu dogs are too real in my opinion. This is my most rational fear by far.

Why am I talking about my mostly irrational fears you may ask. I would like to refer you to the "Dog Blog" post where there is a photo of a "German" Sausage plate....clearly a hotdog. We have been on the search for a Kielbasa or Andouille sausage to be able to make gumbo and I though that I had found one. Then we changed the plan to Paella....This is where the story took a turn.

The traditional Valencian recipe is chicken, rabbit and sausage. In the past, I have made paella with Chicken, Chorizo, white fish, muscles, shrimp and sometimes clams. I was not prepared to order filleted fish from the market.  (I had not studied up the needed vocabulary to order with any confidence). They were out of muscles so we just grabbed some shrimp.  So The paella would be chicken, sausage and shrimp. Not bad, still pretty classic. 

Things were going OK. The thighs were bone in. So cooking time would be different. The vegies went well. But the "Sausage" and I use the term lightly here....was as a hotdog. I powered through and made it. Rice texture was ok. But I made hotdog paella.....what else can I say. Hotdog paella.....It was a complete lío (Spanish for Hot mess)