Blog: food

Meeting at a Diner

2024-08-04 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

Pablo and James

James & Pablo at Pinecrest Diner in San Francisco.

I love meeting with friends at diners. This is especially true when I return to Nebraska. When I land, I'll go with the person who picked me up at the diner after midnight. Going to the diner is a fun adventure when it's snowing, raining, sunny, hot, chilly, or raining cats and dogs!

Diners are also places to meet people who have only met through a virtual medium such as video calls and online groups. Rarely do you meet people in real life (IRL) you get to converse weekly online.

A few weeks ago in July, I met with James G. We both actively participate in the IndieWeb. (You should check it out!) James is a coffee lover and also enjoys writing. He was telling me about a coffee mojito.

James mentioned a while ago that he was visiting San Francisco for work during Homebrew Website Club. I was very excited to get a coffee and walk around the city. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities

You're wondering, "So you two are getting coffee and talking? What 'bout the diner?" Originally, getting coffee and chatting was the original plan. Then, I remembered that James loves diners and this got my brain juices flowing! WE SHOULD GO TO THE DINER! This is not a drill! I love a good side trip to spice up the adventure. Food and coffee unite people.

I love food and getting caffeinated

Diners are lovely! James loves diners. I've never heard of someone loving diners as much as he does! It makes me very happy!

We decided to eat at a fine establishment called the Pinecrest Diner. This place is an institution in San Francisco! Imagine a traditional diner restaurant with yummy breakfast food but in SF! The food is so heavenly people wait in line. This place truly hits the spot. They make the food in front of you due to the openness of the space.

While eating, we caught up and we discussed various topics of interest. We discussed our visions for our respective personal websites, our current projects, Mozilla, and things to do in San Francisco such as checking out Noisebridge. I also recommended The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland. I enjoyed the discussions and ideas bounced off each other.

Thank you James for hanging out! I had a blast!

I hope to see James when I'm on his side of the water. Should I see you at IndieWebCamp San Francisco?

Rachel Ray Needs to Be Stopped

2023-11-21 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

I have witnessed some bad cooking in my life but my goodness my soul was questioning my own existence. Knowing the basics are important. I acknowledge that there are various approaches to make popular Mexican dishes but Rachel Ray's approaches is not good. There is so much missing and there is such a disconnect with the inteded cultural connections. Some things witnessed in this video are just plain wrong. I'm still shaking my head.

These review videos are everything I felt. The emotions I felt when from shocked to disbelief to me being angry at various degrees. I shared these emotions with the ladies in the video.

pablo eats beignets

2023-11-02 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

pablo eats beignets

relecting (eating) one beignet at a time

What you're watching is an unedited video of me eating beignets at a Farmer's Market next to a mall in Los Angeles. I was carrying my camera in different parts of Los Angeles. I handed my friend the camera before we even know we were going to eat beignets. I told him to go crazy. He came up with the idea of recording me eating beignets and to share my thoughts. I think it's kind of funny. It reminds me of the early days of YouTube and watching it on 360p quality. For the young kids out there, high definition was not common for video streaming like it is today!

The camera in use was Canon DM-GL2 which recorded on mini-dv tapes. I felt like I was going back in time.

I am learning to be more comfortable with myself and not worry as much on what people think about me. I'm letting myself be a bit more comfortable with myself. Not being comfortable with myself has hurt me so much in my past. So now is the time for me to shine.

Please enjoy this video. I hope it brightens your day with a good laugh!

What I Had for Dinner Tonight 16-Aug-2023

2023-08-16 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

What I Had for Dinner Tonight

A Traditional Oaxacan Dish

By Pablo Morales

Recent Trip

On my most recent trip to Oaxaca I brought back lots of delicious foods with me. One food item that always comes back with me is tlayudas.

This is a Tlayuda

Image without description

A tlayuda is a big tortilla tortilla that is a staple food in Oaxaca made out of corn and water. They are huge and twice the size of my head. These are no regular tortillas. This has been a food I've been eating since I was a young kid with my parents, grandparents, other relatives, and many friends. Even in moments of low funds, I have always been able to rely on these to meet my needs.

Often times the tlayuda itself is the plate which you eat on. What I mean by this that often times you don't use an actual plate on the table to hold your tlayuda but the tlayuda is your plate.

How It's Eaten?

There are many ways on how you eat one but here are the ways I eat them:

  • You rip the tlayuda piece by piece until there is no more
  • You can roll it up and just starting biting into it.

What's on this Tlayuda

This one is a simple Tlayuda. For the toppings, I used:

  • Tlayuda as the base
  • Homemade refried beans
  • Quesillo (Oaxacan String Cheese)
  • Chapulines (Grasshoppers). Yes, you read that correctly.

Why I Chose These Ingredients

I brought back plenty of these ingredients with me from Oaxaca since I don't get to have these often or it's hard to find around here. Even when i do find them here, it doesn't have the same taste or the ingredients are old. I'm trying to eat as much of them as fast as I can.

I love quesillo. Even though my body I don't agree with dairy much but quesillo is something that I never have a problem with. It probably the way it's cultured.

I also haven't had much of an appetite the last few days and I haven't been craving much meat either. The chapulines provide me a substantial amount of protein and nutrients. It's common in Oaxaca to go multiple meals without eating meat. There are times where I don't eat meat for weeks at a time

Keep Connected with My Roots

As a first generation Mexican-American and Oaxacan, food is important to me to help me stay connected with my culture.

Things I've eaten in Oaxaca in the last 48 hours 3

2023-07-27 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

Hello from rural Oaxaca! I've been eating so much food since I got here. There are so many foods I don't get to eat except when in Oaxaca. Food is a very important in my culture. Oaxacan food is probably the best cuisine out there! It is one of the most I might be a little biased, so don't judge me.

I'm definetly over indulging

Here are the things, I've eaten in the last 48 hours.

  • Tlayudas (Huge Tortillas)
  • Tortas
  • Ice Cream
    • Leche quemada (Burnt Milk/Cream)
  • Tasajo - A certain cut of meat
  • Tacos - Ingredients
    • Tlayudas
    • Tasajo
    • Quesillo (Our version of string cheese)
    • Salsa Verde
  • Paletas de ( Popsicle)
    • Limón (Lime)
    • Tuna (Prickly Pear)

If you want to know more about Oaxaca, please send me a webmention or email me at hello@lifeofpablo.com.