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[pmcd9]

Movin' on Up! Go hang out with Nabu!

[Choop]

BLUE

STAR

DONUTS

(you'll thank me)

[theinevitable]

Today I ate New Mexican style Sopaipillas for the first time, and now I am kind of confused. I grew up eating my grandma's Chilean style ones, which are flat and chewy. These were pillowy and soft and delicious. What asshole was cooking a fluffy sopaipilla and said "oh man, next time I should poke holes in them with a fork, that way they'll end up flat and chewy instead of fluffy?"

Chilean ones also have squash in the dough, though, which is awesome. I wonder if that also has to do with the lack of fluffiness. That is some savory goodness.

[miles]

we are moving to portland.  the wife got an offer from her old boss at the public health department and she wants to be closer to her family(her mom passed away in may).  lots of big changes.  whew!

Portland is as wonderful as everyone says it is. So jealous.

[pmcd9]

Today I ate New Mexican style Sopaipillas for the first time, and now I am kind of confused. I grew up eating my grandma's Chilean style ones, which are flat and chewy. These were pillowy and soft and delicious.

That's New Mexico style? I only ask because I've been eating those kind of sopapillas all my life in Texas. They are so good, deep fried. They are a little bit crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. Put a little honey on them, or in them rather, and nom nom nom... Dang, now I am hungry. Ha ha ha...

They're actually sorta similar to what the Mormons in Utah call scones, which is actually just Indian flat bread. I guess the Mormons needed to change the name so it didn't sound so heathenish.

We actually talked about this many many moons ago when I lived briefly in Utah.

[KeithHernandez]

Yeah, from a person who grew up in Oklahoma (tex-mex) and lives in Denver (NM Style) those are both??  But more strongly associated with Tex-Mex I think?

[theinevitable]

yeah, I think they are a Mexican thing that New Mexicans have maybe modified in some way.

I am gonna cook the fuck out of these things. I wanted to make some RIGHT NOW but there are too many people at my house. I would have to make a ton.

[pmcd9]

Re: Reading Undone Man on a Nook!

There isn't a Kindle app for Nook?

No. I asked Google and they say there is a way, but you have to hack your nook and I don't want to do that.

You can get a free Kindle app for your computer or phone and read it on that.

That's what I've done, but I'm finding it hard to get started because there are too many distractions on the computer. I like to read while in bed or on the shitter.

[theinevitable]

I made some sopaipillas, they were pretty great. I wimped out and didn't make the oil hot enough, so now I know. Also, now I know that it isn't worth the hassle of frying stuff just to make 12. All that cleanup requires a much larger output.

I am trying really hard to think less and talk less about girls, but yesterday I mentioned that I want to find a biking companion who is a little slower than my hardcore friends and mostly wants to get in shape/explore, and my roommate and his girlfriend simultaneously said "YOU SHOULD ASK (#####*****) TO BIKE WITH YOU" a little too loudly and then gave each other "was that too obvious?" looks.

[wombat]

I made some sopaipillas, they were pretty great. I wimped out and didn't make the oil hot enough, so now I know. Also, now I know that it isn't worth the hassle of frying stuff just to make 12. All that cleanup requires a much larger output.

And you were all being selgiraffe and not wanting to make a ton of them for the house full of people. Now you know.

[jaydub]

On the other hand, when the occasion comes to make sopapillas for the masses, you will have confidence knowing you tried it out once already.  I have had a similar experience with making beer.  The first batch I did was about 500ml in a kit.  It was OK when it was done, but it gave me the confidence in my understanding of the process to go on to the standard 5 gallon batch one does in homebrewing (which almost positively has to be shared unless you can actually put away 60 beers in the time it takes to brew another batch).  Related note: one of the best things in the world is getting tanked on booze you made yourself.

[theinevitable]

yeah, definitely, this was a test run. Next time I will make TONS. Also, the way it told me to roll out/cut the dough (make balls the size of your fist, flatten them, cut into quarters with a pizza cutter) was a ton easier than the way my grandma does it. Sorry grandma. She makes a big flat sheet of dough and cuts it into circles, then recombines the scraps and flattens it out and cuts again, over and over. WHYYYY. Now that I know that rolling out the dough only takes a few minutes I am much more likely to do it again, it made a lot less mess and hassle than the other way.

The amateur anthropologist in me LOVED two details of my grandma teaching me to make her version. First, she said they taste a lot better in America because butternut squash is way better than zapallo (?) squash. Second, right when I was thinking "goddamn this method of forming the dough is frustrating" she said she feels guilty/inauthentic about doing it this way, because her mom formed each one perfectly by hand.

The real thing is that I need to conquer my fear of 400 degree oil.

I am trying to overcome my tendency to want to buy tools whenever I encounter an extremely mild inconvenience. "oh, if I'm going to make sopaipillas again, I should get a fryer thermometer and a heavier bottomed pot." It is tempting to want to have the exact perfect thing for the job, instead of making do. It's always easier to look up fancy bike tools on the internet than just go out and ride my bike. This is a thing I am working on but it is a pretty basic worrying/lazy thing. What if my thermometer explodes? What if my spatula's handle melts like it did that one time? What if that squeak my bike makes means the gears are about to explode?

Do you guys have cast-iron cookware (skillet, dutch oven)? Is it a good investment?

[KeithHernandez]

I've got a ton of cast iron stuff, it is nicer for some things for sure but I don't use it for all.  I think one of them is a Dutch oven?  That is the one I use the most.  Anyways, I got all of mine from thrift stores, I would do that if you.

[theinevitable]

It is funny how I am writing about how living in such a cheap city has taught me a lot about the resources available on a low income, but it never occurred to me to look for cast iron pans at goodwill.

[jaydub]

I think I was 30 before I learned a Dutch Oven wasn't just when you fart in bed and throw the covers up over your partner's head.