Eating: Seafood Paella

A couple of weeks ago I finally used the saffron I bought in Spain 5 years ago to make a seafood paella. I made brown rice with garlic, onions, tomatoes, and a tablespoon of saffron, and then at the end added a frozen seafood mix we had gotten from Costco. Super easy and delicious, although it turned out more like a risotto when I accidentally let some of the water from the cover back into the pan.

My seafood paella - Hey, it doesn't look bad!

My seafood paella – Hey, it doesn’t look bad!

Seafood Paella

4 cups of brown rice

8 cups of water

1/2 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tbsp saffron

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb frozen seafood mix

 

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add water, rice, tomatoes, saffron, salt, and pepper. Bring it to a boil. Simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes. Add frozen seafood and cook for another 10 minutes. It makes SEVERAL servings!

My seafood paella

My seafood paella

 

Then last weekend we had a real homemade paella at a gourmet dinner we went to. Our hosts had not only a paella pan, but a paella circular burner to make sure the rice caramelized evenly. They added shrimp and scallops and paired the dish with a Pinot Noir. They also had several gourmet salts that I didn’t even know existed! For appetizers we had guacamole made with roasted avocado and veggies, a tomato/minestrone soup with figs, margaritas and white wine. For dessert, it was a delicious pear tart with blue cheese. Yummmm!

 

Eating: Napa, California

Napa is known for its wineries, but its food was the center stage of our trip there last weekend. Following my friend V.’s recommendation, we went to this indoor public market called “Oxbowl“. With so many places to eat, we couldn’t decide and ended up having three lunches in two hours: oysters at “Hog Island Oyster Co.“, duck tacos at “C Casa” and mushroom pizza at “The Kitchen Door“. Everything was paired with wine, of course. In the afternoon we walked around downtown, where they were having a Cajun Festival, but were too full to try their grilled oysters. Later in the evening, our host D. went to “Napkins” with us, a delicious restaurant (bison sliders!) that turns into a lounge at night. On our way back to Reno, we found time to eat even more, stopping in San Francisco to have breakfast at “The Ramp” with my friend J.

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Eating: Reno in the Fall

Can’t believe it has been over a month since I posted something! Time flies and… I still haven’t been running. I blame it on the fires bringing smoke to the area! However, I continue to enjoy the nice fall weather by walking the dogs whenever I can.

Beautiful Day for Walking

Beautiful Day for Walking

This past month I’ve only really cooked three times: chicken red curry with rice, pumpkin pie (because it’s fall!), and gluten free double chocolate chip cookie (because October 1st is Homemade Cookie Day!)

On the other hand, my pilgrimage to Reno restaurants continue: Fuego has great tapas like meatballs, scallops and crab cakes,  Two Chicks is a new breakfast place in Midtown, Los 4 Vientos has some huge burritos, there is an amazing Sicilian pizza at Nu Yulk Pizza, the beef wrap from “All Wrapped Up” was just okay during Food Truck Fridays, O’Cleary’s Irish Pub has lots of fried food, pool, darts, and even bowling, Indian Kabab’s lunch buffet has chicken masala and more, Shenanigan’s English Pub has cheap and abundant bar food , a cute place for high tea is The Isles Tea Shop, and even The Cheesecake Factory has surprisingly awesome food (check out their pumpkin/pecan cheesecake!)

 

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Other fun stuff that happened: having my Spanish students play with shaving cream, finally getting my World Map up with our travel pins, a couple of friends’ birthdays, Brazilian karaoke (I sang Ivete Sangalo and Marisa Monte and no one complained about my voice!) and  Colbie Caillat’s concert (did you know her family is from Reno?)

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