The author made friends when he learned to cook paella.
Courtesy of John Paul Hernandez
After my wife and I married in 2017, life moved fast. We found a place to put down roots and started a family with three kids. Like most people in their 20s and 30s, we found it difficult to make new friends, especially in a new community.We didn't want to be part of the loneliness statistic among adults, so we set out to find our own way to be intentional about new relationships.Since 2023, we've taken extended stays in Spain to reconnect with our ancestral roots, visit family, and appreciate the country. My wife and I worked hard to make friends in West Palm Beach, Fla., and later, when we moved further north to Port St. Lucie.But it wasn't until our trip to the Comunitat Valenciana, often over long lunches of paella, that we finally started making close friends more naturally.I fell in love with paella in SpainGrowing up in South Florida, I had many versions of paella, but I had never had an authentic one. While in Spain, we loved the dish so much that we had it a few times a week and then walked it off along the boardwalks of towns like Altea and Calpe.Each time, I snapped pictures, took notes, and studied the dish.When I came home, I made plenty of mistakes. For example, I broke rules by adding herbs to my sofrito, which changed the dish and color entirely. I learned my lesson and worked to replicate what I first tasted.
