The morning started on a less than stellar note, with the Bean whining about wanting to eat everything in sight. Things started to pick up a bit when Rafa showed up with the paella fire ring and gas bottle, but then realized he forgot the actual paella pan :-)
After a quick round trip, where some speed limits might have been bruised a bit, we were on our way cooking. By then, everybody had arrived and the house was … chaos.
There were a few moments of the blind leading the blind while Rafa and I were doing the paella because I’d never cooked one so big and Rafa was working off of his dad’s emailed instructions. Still, in the end, it was a perfectly acceptable first try. My only criticisms would be that it probably needed a bit more salt and the rice was still a bit too wet. Like I said though, perfectly acceptable, and my tortillas were very well received. There was a cubic BUTTLOAD of food on the table, including an impressive amount of baked goods.
All in all, I think everybody ate their fill and had a good time. I’ll admit to having a better time than I expected to – I was really anxious about today – but I had a really nice time with everybody. The good news is that the bad weather held off for the afternoon so the kids were able to burn off their excess energy outside on the slide and swing.
So, good food, good friends, good weather and a happy bean. Thanks to everybody who came and helped make the day!