With the laptop fixed with a shiny new motherboard (top marks to Dell for the quick resolution) I can finally post this update:

Espe and I spent the weekend down in Valencia visiting her family. It was nice to have such a relaxing weekend in the sun (despite the bad forecast), eating some great food without stressing myself with all the little ‘to do’ things that normally take up quiet weekends at home.

I made a good start with Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, and in the process learned more about the Spanish Civil war. Something that has caught my attention lately due to an excellent weekly documentary on TVE2 and some good factual books.

As ever, Espe’s mother cooked us her superb paella. A dish that is very simple to make, but very difficult to make well. So paying great attention I hope I’ve picked up some good tips. Read on to see how to make the world’s best paella:

	1. Prepare, chop and clean the chicken and rabbit.
2. Heat olive oil in the paella (the name for the special dish in which the paella is prepared) and fry the chicken, rabbit and green peppers.
	3. Add 4 – 5 peeled and chopped tomatoes to the paella and several cloves of garlic.
4. Boil green beans in water for 10 minutes and then add the water (without the beans) to the paella.
	5. Leave the water to simmer and soak up the flavors (as though preparing stock). It is worth turning any of the chicken or rabbit that is not submersed in the water.
6. Step back and admire the Don Quixote figures while the Paella simmers away happily to itself.
	7. Chop up two cloves of garlic and crush together with the zafron (the key ingredient that gives the distinctive colour and taste).
8. Add a little water to the zafron & garlic mix and pour into the paella.
	9. Spread the rice evenly around the paella. The rice should be well below the water level. Ensure that all rice is submersed and that none remains on top of the chicken or rabbit. The rice should be cooked in the water for 18 minutes and it should not be stirred during this period.
10. Salt greatly affects the taste of the paella and too little or too much can destroy it. It is advisable to add salt in small quantities throughout the cooking and taste to check. Apparently true expert can tell from the size of the bubbles if there is enough salt. Too small = too little. Too big = to much.
	11. As the rice start to rise as it absorbs the water and the partially cooked green beens and green pepper.
12. After the 18 minutes is up remove from the heat and leave to stand five minutes before serving. Serve and enjoy: I’ve not listed any quantities as this will vary depending on the size of the paella (cooking dish) and the number of people eating.