Thursday March 15, 2007

Delicious paella salad. Oh man, so good. We barely had any leftovers and everyone loved it. I love making this dish; it is so tasty and easy to make. Recipe follows...

In a large pan, saute:

2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. kielbasa (or chorizo)
1/2 lb. shrimp
1 T. of garlic
2 C. diced red bell pepper

Prepare:

1/2 lb. orzo
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced into rounds and seeded
1 c. frozen peas (add to orzo right before draining the pasta)

Mix vinaigrette:
heat 3 T. of white wine vinegar
3 T. of fresh lemon juice
add 1/4 t. of saffron threads, crumbled
allow saffron to steep for at least 10 minutes in warm liquid

whisk in 1/4 C. of mayo
1 t. of minced garlic
1 t. of powdered sugar
1/2 C. of extra virgin olive oil

add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

Assemble:
mix together contents of saute pan with the pasta and peas
add vinaigrette
toss and garnish with chopped scallions
serve cold

Pile O' Recipes

Last night I got it into my head that I wanted to have a few people over for dinner tonight and make some Paella Salad. To me, it's the perfect dinner for friends and great weather. You can make the salad early in the day and be all set. However, I could not find the recipe anywhere. The recipe originally came from my grandmother, who found it in one of her many cooking magazines (the woman has Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines dating back to the 60s). I called her to see if she had it, but she recently renovated her kitchen and was unable to locate the recipe.

I keep all my recipes from magazines and all handwritten family recipes in a file folder in my desk. This is a horrible method of organization. I can never find anything. There are hundreds of recipes in there and they are in no order whatsoever. For years now I've been saying that I'm going to type them up and put them on my computer.

Well, because I was so pissed off about the Paella Salad (my grandmother did eventually find the recipe and so the crisis was averted), I started the arduous task today of converting over these recipes into some sort of organized format.

Tomorrow I'll post a picture of the Paella Salad from tonight, along with the recipe.

Stepi's Car

Alex drove Steph's car down to Nashville last week. Why? Because she is the most awesome friend EVER! Steph was so excited to see "her baby". Not that she ever drives the car, but still, she was thrilled that it was no longer just sitting in my grandparents' driveway.

Here is a photo of the car in its new home, our garage.

Terrariums

Over the weekend I made some mini terrariums. They are super cute. I put them in a cluster on the dining room table. It's always lovely to have some greenery indoors.

Southern Oddity

This is a picture of a Thomasville Furniture truck parked in our cul-de-sac. What was it doing there, you may ask?

Well, some young lad came to our door and asked us if we needed any furniture? We said "no, thank you", and commented to each other that the whole situation was very odd. But then we saw our neighbor, Christy, outside checking out the goods in the truck. Steph told her that we thought the whole thing was shady, but Christy said it's actually quite normal for these parts and we just feel that way because we're from "up North". Apparently all sorts of people bring their trucks around neighborhoods and sell stuff like this-- landscapers, furniture retailers, etc.

Sometimes I think I live on a different planet.

Spring, glorious Spring

Temperatures in Nashville this week hovered between 65-70 degrees, so Spring is in full force. The buds on the trees are starting to get fat and daffodils are everywhere. I love it! I only wish that we had daffodils at our house. I will be sure to plant a ton in the Fall.

We went to get some plants yesterday and started planning and executing our garden for our front beds. We're going to have to get some landscaping work done in the back; right now it's just boring old lawn. I'm not one of those people who requires half an acre of lush lawn to feel like my life is complete; I'd rather have a spectacular garden. I definitely want to have a small orchard of apple trees and vegetable and herb gardens. I'd also like to put some river birch trees along the side of the property. Those are my main requirements; the rest I shall leave in the hands of a landscape architect.

Anyway, here is a picture of some daffodils in the parking lot of the nursery. I took this in manual "tungsten" mode...whatever that is.

Off to dinner at Radius10 with my sweetie and Becky.

Suburban Sun

Another sunrise picture. I'm really enjoying being awake so early in the morning. I go outside to walk the puppies and I can the mooing of cows, and the cock-a-doodle-doo of roosters, and the other day I also saw sheep! Ah, rural suburbia is grand!