Along with archery and a handful of other activities, cooking is an integral skill for the modern day Renaissance Man. I learned to cook watching my parents. Experimentation filled in the rest of the gaps. I am by no means an expert, but am pretty confident that I know my way around a kitchen. Cooking a thanksgiving feast for 15 of my friends in November was my arrival as a confident chef.

The Paella Bash was a huge success. I was concerned having never cooked with saffron. It requires quite a bit of precision and timing. With the help of my my buddy William and sister Maleah, we made it happen, cooking enough chow to feed a small army.
A couple of Cooking shots

I know nothing about food blogging (or any blogging for that matter). Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Paella is one of my top three favourite meals. Ten blog comments and I will host another feast with my second favourite meal.

What is your favorite meal?

Closest guess wins an invite to the Paella Bash

I’ve been tossing around the idea of hosting a paella feast at my house for quite some time. For those who don’t know what paella is. Basically you combine rice, sausage, chicken and all the seafood you can find in one massive pan. Nuke it with spices (saffron), add some vegetables, generously garnish your plate then chow down. I was exposed to the palate pleasing experience of Paella at an early age. Boating with the family every summer in desolation sound, my old man would cook it for all our family friends. I was practically raised on this stuff.

The Perfect Day

Paella demands fresh and high quality ingredients. With the help of a few good friends, I decided to venture out on the water in my boat on Saturday to see if the ocean was in a giving mood. We set out in the morning with hopes to return with a full bounty. Prawning was the first order of the day. Four traps set in strings of two. Sig Hansen and the boys at Deadliest Catch would be proud.

While the traps were soaking, we dropped the fishing lines for a few hours. One undersized salmon was released.

Time to check the Prawns

Bout a three hour soak on our prawn gear, we couldn’t wait to see the fruits of our efforts.

Contest Time

 How many prawns did we get? Closest guess gets an invite to the Paella Bash hosted by yours truly. It will be a magical evening of light-hearted conversation, extreme sarcasm and corny pop culture references. In the event that you cannot or do not want to attend, I encourage you to guess anyways. I will mail you leftovers!

–          One guess per person

–          Two ways to guess: Via comment on the blog or via comment on the Facebook post.

If you guess the exact number: bring three of your closest friends.

Otherwise, closest guess: You + 1

Second Closest: just you.

I can’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful Saturday in Vancouver. Can you?