Fourth of July

So as Korean Americans, our family has traditionally grilled Korean BBQ on
Fourth of July (Yum), but this time around, my grandpa told me to take the grill.
“Michael, you man now. Bye,” he said, handing me the tongs.
Being in charge meant I got to decide the menu. We actually had steak the night
before, and I didn’t really want to go with hamburgers, so I decided to make….
Paella! Very American, right?
I knew paella had a lot of ingredients in it, but it was actually A LOT.
Grocery shopping for all the meat, seafood, and spices must’ve been
a pain in the butt (Shout out to my aunt). Well, let’s get straight into it.
Preparation actually took a bit of time. I first peeled and washed the shrimp, seasoned it
in smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Then I removed some of the fat on the chicken
thighs, diced them into nice little pieces, and seasoned them all with salt and pepper.
(In This Photo: Beer #1)

Next, I went through the clams and mussels to throw out the the poor (or lucky) ones
that were dead. I brushed up the healthy ones and left them in a bowl of salt water.
(ITP: Remnants of our breakfast)
And the cooking begins! I first threw on some chorizo on one pan. I had to make
a separate batch for my pregnant aunt. Something processed something something.

Cooked the chicken on the pans until they were golden brown.
(Not ITP: Beer #2)

Then I set aside the chicken to cook some onions, garlic, and grated tomatoes.

Almost done! I mixed the paella rice with the cooked tomato sauce, poured the
chicken broth in, and placed the chicken and chorizo on top. Now we wait!

Just waiting.
(ITP: Beer #3, our family’s gambling addiction)

When the rice soaked up most of the broth, I placed the seafood on top of the rice, and
went back to gambling. Had some left over clams so I threw them on the grill as well.

And the final product! The paella was surprisingly good. I guess you can’t possibly go
wrong with all those yummy ingredients. We still got some paella rice left over,
so I guess I’ll be making some more soon. Anyways, that was my very late Fourth of July post.
(ITP: Lost count… just more alcohol)

Extra – My cousin’s Black Forest cake. Not bad. Pretty good in fact.