My Spanish Pot Luck Birthday Party!

Was a ton of fun!  I made mixed paella (with mussels, scallops, calamari, shrimp, chorizo, and chicken), spanish tortilla, patatas bravas, clerico, and pan con tomate.  I will include the recipes for some of these things after the jump.  Femi made aioli, manchego frito with apple glaze and guava paste, and gambas.  There was a ton of cheese and wine.  We also had some olives, tortas, crema stuffed plantains, spanish stew and more!  My roommate made rice pudding and gorgeous paper flower decorations.  Pics and videos below.

Adam had to change shirts because of an accidental red wine spillage.

He looks thrilled especially near the orange flowers.

People piggin out on Spanish wonders.

Jen's diggin' her grandmas chorizo bread.

Ryan loves bread and Reid loves beer.

My Clerico with white wine, strawberries, grapes, apples, lemons, oranges, sugar, peaches, and more!  Yum!

We got some fried potatoes, bravas sauce, aioli, pan con tomate, chorizo, tortilla, and queso.  Yum again!

How beautiful were those decorations?  Jen made them by hand!

Food baby/coma time.

Maiko and her boyfriend gettin ready to eat!

Adam and Ross chowin' down.

Femi's spicy garlicky shrimp dish.

Patatas bravas con aioli

Spanish Tortilla (that kinda fell apart)

Videos!!

I used this paella recipe just added more stuff in it.

I made this same recipe but added hot sauce and a little ketchup into the bravas sauce.  Femi made the aioli with olive oil, eggs, lemon, and garlic.  I don't know how to make aioli like he does.

Legion: Fun Bar With Good Choices

So maybe I am biased towards Legion because my boyfriend works there but I really like this bar a lot! They have something for everyone: a good selection of tap, bottle, and can beers. They have a few beer and a shot specials for the recession-friendly. They also have an abundance of scotch and bourbons. They have a great outdoor space where there are frequent bbqs on Sunday afternoons.

I like the fact that this is a regular bar catered towards patrons of the beer and whiskey drinking type, but they actually give you a choice of wine that goes beyond "red or white?" Just to be clear, this is definitely not a wine bar. But they do carry 4 types of wines and 2 types of ports. They have: Protocolo White, Nathanson Creek Chardonnay, Trapiche Malbec, and Luzon Verde Monastrell. The ports that they serve are Sandeman Fine Ruby and Cockburns Special Reserve.



I had the pleasure of tasting both of the white wines last night. The Protocolo White is a Spanish vino that is made of 100% White Tempranillo grapes and comes from mainly the Rioja and Penedes regions. My first impression was the strong fruity smell and when I tasted it I got a light-medium body. It is more dry than sweet but still has fruit aromas. When I looked this up on my phone, I read that it is composed of strawberry, raspberry, black pepper hints, black cherry, mint, and earthy tones. I wasn't too too far off.

The Nathanson Creek Chardonnay is from California. When I first tried this i got fruity again with a light bodied and sweeter than the Protocolo, less dry. I looked it up and it says that this wine is smooth with apple flavors with oak notes. Again, I was close! I need to work on picking out the specific fruits though. That is my mission!