"Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres." -Spanish idiom

A few months back, my friend Erica turned 25. I met her a little over a year before her 25th birthday, in mid-June in 2011, when she was referred to me through work as a possible candidate. Since her move to NYC would cause her to leave a job behind in her hometown just outside Philly, she would be looking for a new position in our area as soon as her fit hit the pavement. It wasn't long after I interviewed her in my office that she was offered a position within our firm, and then quickly moved into a spot on my team. She and I clicked immediately, both inside and outside work, and she became one of the people I spend the most time with in NYC. When her 25th birthday rolled around, I spent a lot of time thinking about what to get her... Finally, I combined her love of cooking in her new apartment, her passion for Spain (she spent over a year studying in Seville), and my hope to give her something that could help her build happy memories with friends in NYC while encouraging her amazing love for travel. Enter... The Little Tapas Book.

 

We set a date a couple months in advance, where as many of our close friends as possible could come, and started picking Spanish recipes we wanted to make together. Through Erica, I've been fortunate enough to meet her adorable family, and one of her sisters even recently moved to NYC, bringing her husband along with her.  This worked out very nicely for us, as we pretty much have Selena to thank for all of these photos and Jake for almost all of the food. She's a natural with the camera, and he's a natural in the kitchen. Not only are they awesome company, but they're confident enough to take on the tasks that others are butchering. ;)

 

You may be wondering what Raja's contribution to all of this was. It was supposed to be the meatballs. (Thank you for stepping in, Jake.) Nope, Raja's contribution was giving our supposed-to-be-Spanish tapas party a Chilean flair by shamelessly promoting one of his work clients, the country of Chile.

 



We went with it and threw some Chilean wine into the mix.

In fact, we deviated quite a bit from our original stronghold on Spanish culture that night... In addition to Chilean olive oil and wine, our theme music was one of Erica's favorite Mexican serenaders, and our eventual playlist became a repeat of "Africa" by Toto. What can we say? :)

What WAS consistent throughout the entire night was sharing fabulous food with amazing friends.

 

 

I'm so happy that I can call this amazing group of people my friends and my family.

"Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who are you."