Nico Nonfiction

 Wow, am I bad at origami: That's my phone stand for you, and I don't trust it at all. As I'm writing this, my phone is slowly but surely slipping off. Not only is my construction shabby but the paper I used is too. The video wasn't even bad! Apparently what's bad is my ability to follow basic instructions. It was fun making it though, as the last time I attempted to make origami was in 6th grade. Nostalgic? Not really Assuring? Definitely not. This is honestly a cause for alarm. Fun? Yes, and now my phone has officially slipped off. That's all folks, it was a wild ride.

For the longest time I thought "Chiles en Nogada" was "Chiles en Ahogados" which means "Chiles in drowned people" and that was... not correct. Because I've already speedposted three recipes, this one will be much more open. Chiles en Nogada are basically a gutted pepper stuffed with meat and covered with a nut sauce. Are they good? Yes, if you enjoy the taste of poblano pepper. "Nico, do you like the taste of poblano peppers?" No comment. Maybe yes, maybe no. Evaporated milk, half (or a third) of an onion, cilantro, half a pomegranate, a bunch of walnuts, Poblano peppers (our 'shell'), raisins, other assorted dried fruits, and ground beef. This is what you need, my friends. basically, you're gonna bake the poblano peppers while cooking a pan of the meat, dried fruits, and onion.   Bake the Poblano peppers until the skin begins to peel, take them out and gut the seeds. Stuff the meat into the pepper.   Dump all of the walnuts and ...

 There's this one song I heard as a kid that went a little something like: " Mi querida Soledad / Me va a guisar un molito..." Which is basically someone saying "My dear solitude will make me some mole", and I honestly have no clue what that means. Maybe it's too deep for me or maybe someone had a bit too much to drink that night. Just in case, though I do have faith in all y'all, mole is pronounced mohl-eh. For those of y'all who haven't had mole, it's a smooth, earthy-flavor sauce that you can put on a lot of things, typically chicken or rice. There's a lot that goes into mole: spices, vegetables, seeds, and weird things like chocolate and bread. Make time: 200 minutes What you'll need:   A loaf of bread 2 full tomatoes A full Onion Some Garlic A banana or two A cup of cocoa nibs/ chocolate tablet 2 dried Guajillo Chiles 2 dried Ancho chiles 3 dried Chipotle chiles 3 cups chicken broth 5 pinches of whole clove 2 cinammon sticks 2 tb...

A new recipe I learned for y'all and it's pretty straightforward. ~50-70 minutes. Anatomy of a tamale consists of a main 'flavor' with corn dough surrounding it, all wrapped up in a corn husk or banana leaf. If you haven't had tamales before, think of them like moist cornbread wrapping some other ingredient. You do NOT eat the husk/leaf. It is scary how many people actually do. Tamales can be "salty" or "sweet". "Salty" tamales don't have sugar and wrap non-sweet things: think along the lines of chicken in green sauce/red sauce. "Sweet" tamales have sugar and wrap sweet foods like fruits. For today's tamale making session, I'll be showing y'all how to make pineapple tamales. I will also be making salty tamales on the side for myself, so you'll see some of those as well. Here's what you'll need (for around 5-6 tamales): 1 cup of MASECA - "Nico, what is maseca?" It's a staple of Latin A...

Not that Swiss Miss or Nestle stuff, but a true hot chocolate that warms your soul. ~10-15 minutes once you get your ingredients. The 'simple' way is at the very bottom of this post. This is actually the first recipe I learned, because I love the smell of chocolate. It's a rather straightforward recipe as long as you don't burn the bottom of your saucepan. My goal is to explain these recipes as simply as possible so that even the most inexperienced of y'all know what's up. Here's what you'll need for roughly 2 cups of hot chocolate:  3/2 tablespoons of cacao powder (no sugar) : If you want an even richer flavor, up it to 2-3 tablespoons. We're not going for milk chocolate, but for a stronger and darker flavor. 1 (generous) tablespoon of brown sugar 1/7th cup water: rough estimate. Almost two cups of milk : because you got that 1/7th cup of water. Cinnamon : This spice will give the hot chocolate a slight smooth, nutty flavor. Cayenne : VERY IMPORTA...

      What's up y'all, welcome to this blog. The cause I've picked for project three is "Preserving Food Culture". Whenever many of us think of "ethnic" or "cultural" foods, we think of foods that our parents, grandparents, or other family members have made for us; not necessarily foods that we ourselves have made or know how to make.       Why should we just leave it at that? There are so many foods that have been made for me that I love , but have no real sense of how they're made nor the work and skill that goes into making them. Would we not have greater enjoyment of these foods when we too have made them (or, perhaps, attempted to make them) as well?      The "one small thing" I'll be doing is sharing recipes (ones I had already learned as well as some new ones!) in the hopes that others try them out, or at least learn more about what it takes to make them. If anyone else decides to follow my OST, post your experience m...