The Smell of the Roses (and Some Seafood)

We are lucky to live in climate which allow us to to enjoy blooming roses even in December (although, technically, it is still fall, so perhaps those would qualify as "autumn" roses).


I love these flowers .... They are so elegant, with all the delicate complex blossom and wonderful colors...


And how their beauty is even enhanced with imperfections ....

They are endless source of inspiration for me. I have couple of rose bushes in the garden and after discovering how great and relatively effortless they grow here, i decided to spend more time and space with them next year.


But for time being , I rely only on whatever I find on my lunch walks.



To celebrate endless sunshine in my heart (I would like to think that), I decided to make very summery dish for dinner today - a variation on seafood paella. I loosely followed my friend's M. complicated advice and some googling results. It went like this: I sauteed chopped onion, some parsley and a couple gloves of garlic for about ten min, added a can of diced tomatoes, teaspoon of Spanish smoked paprika and did some more sauteing; that thing should have jam consistency . While doing that (say multitasking) I steamed 2 lbs bag of mussels over water-lemon-wine mixture, for about five min, and cooked (in pan, per partes, with olive oil) half of pound bag of shrimps, cubed chicken breast (one), two sliced chorizo sausages and diced red pepper. Than I mixed sauteed tomato jam, about two coffee mugs of rice (was supposed to have arborio but used parboiled), chicken broth (twice of the volume of the rice), meats, red pepper, salt, black pepper and saffron, lowered the heat and let simmer for another twenty min. Than I pushed the cooked seafood in, scattered frozen green peas over the top and let sit for a while under the cover. Finally, an hour latter, I fetched W. for dinner.:) Note: I shall get some shallow cooking pan if I ever try to make it again.