Straight from Spain: Food at heart of Marywood alumnae's get-togethers
Jul. 3—Local Flavor came for the food but stayed for the memories.
A group of nearly 25 Marywood University alumnae have steadily met for dinner dates and get-togethers since graduating in 1970. They vowed to make a date once a year to catch up and continued this tradition until 2005. At that point, most of them had retired and had grown families and fewer responsibilities, so they upped the meetings to once a month. The group usually picks a restaurant to meet at once a month, but one of them recently treated her friends to a homemade lunch instead.
Linda Gomar made Paella from scratch at group member Carol Hamphill's Covington Twp. home. Gomar was an exchange student in Bolivia as a teen and fell in love with South America and the Spanish language, eventually majoring in the subject at Marywood. There, she met her group of friends and also got the chance to study abroad in Spain, for a semester. She met her now ex-husband there and got married.
Immersed in Spanish culture but not even knowing how to boil water, Gomar said with a laugh, she learned Spanish recipes, including for Paella, from her extremely patient mother-in-law. While the dish actually is named after the pan it's made in, Gomar said, it consists of rice cooked with meats, seafood and vegetables.
Gomar admitted it's not a quick recipe and can be complicated because you have to cook it a certain way. The pan needs to be a specific size as the depth of the rice can't be more than a 1/2-inch thick. Also, the amount of rice depends how many people you plan to serve, and the amount of liquid used in the recipe corresponds to the amount of rice (1/2 cup rice for every 1 1/4 cups of liquid per serving). For instance, if someone wanted to make paella for two people, that would require 1 cup of rice and 2 1/2 cups liquid. To cook paella for five people, they would use 2 1/2 cups rice and 6 1/4 cups liquid. The rice also must be short-grain, she said.
Gomar uses Bomba rice and Carmencita Paellero Paella Seasoning with Saffron packets, both of which she gets on Amazon.com. The rice also should be added to the dish slowly (she sprinkles in a small amount at a time) so that it cooks evenly.
"It's definitely precise," Gomar said, laughing. "It really is heaven, though. And you can make it all different ways. Every region kind of has their own ingredients that they use."
In addition to the giant pan of Paella Gomar made last month, she also treated her friends to homemade Sangria. Michele McDade, one of the friends, said these monthly get-togethers mirror their days at Marywood. During lunchtime, a handful of them would gather at a table, and more and more friends would join them. By the time lunch ended, they had a huge group of friends around them.
Through the years — including busy schedules and juggling jobs, partners, children and their own lives — the friends made a commitment to keep these friendships. They know it's so much more than just sharing a meal.
"We're sharing our lives with each other," she said. "It wasn't easy to coordinate all these schedules, but we always made it a priority to see each other and keep in touch. We're so grateful to Marywood because it's where it all started."
Contact the writer: gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127; @gmazurTT on Twitter
