Last weekend's dinner (I know it's late, so sue me)

I decided to treat my good friend Andrew to dinner. "Treat" just actually means me toiling away in the kitchen to create a kickass four course dinner. Typical of me to choose Spanish as I was looking into using the saffron that Andrew bought from Kabul.

Out of the ten guests we had invited only two came. :-(

Appetizer: Terry's antipasta of feta cheese and kalamata olives steeped in extra virgin olive oil

First course: Watermelon and Tomato soup with fresh celery and virgin olive oil (while everyone thought it was unique, Andrew was being diplomatic about it tasting "unique")

Second course: Cold salad of green apples, yakon, stuffed olives and jicama (with pomelo juice and calamansi vinaigrette)

Third course: Entree consisted of my Seafood Paella (with lots of baby clams, Manila clams, shrimp, squid and other stuff I'm allergic to) with a big kick of Alioli (mayonnaise and lots of native garlic). I should have been more liberal with the saffron. The rice was too pale yellow. Derek winced at the extra strength garlic in his alioli. But I liked it just fine.

Dessert: A rather dry Oreo chessecake from Cheesecake, Etc. But Andrew said he hasn't tasted cheesecake for ages.

I had a terrible runny nose and I kept on sneezing. I felt like I was spreading the bubonic plague. But the food turned out better than I expected and somehow it improved the spirits of everyone.

FUN FACT: Mixing dry white wine with Mountain Dew tastes mighty good!

Thanks to Irma Mutuc for the shaky yet wonderful pics! You're on co-host who can wear a tube and still look elegant.