The big 3-0

It's official folks, I'm 30! I celebrated my milestone birthday December 27th with a tapas and paella party at my parents' house. Months ago when Scott asked me how I wanted to mark the big occasion, I decided on a Spanish themed culinary celebration, as part of my heart has been in Spain since my study abroad in Madrid in 1999. The party was spectacular! Scott, my parents, my uncle and I all combined efforts to create a huge spread of Spanish tapas, and then Scott and my dad made paellas that rivaled eachother in taste. We drank sangria and Spanish wines, and we were graced with Scott's famous cheesecake for dessert. I spent my big day with 20 family and friends, making me feel oh so loved =)
Here's a quick recap of the night:

Prepping for the evening in our "McCarthy" aprons

Dad's Baked Spanish olives
Uncle Dick's Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds
Holly's Tortilla Espanola, a classic Spanish dish available everywhere in Madrid!
Mom's Jamon serrano and melon
Mom's Fried eggplant with yogurt lemon sauce
Uncle Dick's Manchego rice balls (rissotto balls with manchego cheese in the middle, fried)
Mom's Asparagus a la plancha (grilled)
Mom's Roasted mini peppers stuffed with goat cheese
Dad's Peppers marinated with garlic
Scott's Clams with white wine and garlic sauce

Those were just the tapas, I was a little worried that no one would be hungry for the marvellous paellas, but I had nothing to worry about as we ate through almost 2 full paellas:

Dad made a chorizo and chicken paella on the BBQ

Scott made a seafood paella on the stove

Dad's smokey paella

Scott's finished product

Ta-da! Time to eat. My salad is in the middle of the paella feast.

After dinner, we still had more to eat! I requested Scott's cheesecake for dessert, which we tore into after quite a harmoniously handicapped version of "Happy Birthday".
Now that I've posted all the food we ate, I'll leave you with some pictures of the crowd!

Cousin Hank and brother Max munch on tapas

Andrea digs in to the paella

The McCarthy clan (Scott, his mom, and sister)
Julianna tastes a tapa
Mother and mother-in-law enjoying the spread

Kelly, Kim, and Linda finish off the sangria

Bam! Finishing touchesThanking my husband for a great party!