Hi everyone! Back now.

So this past weekend was spent in Anaheim, CA, venturing along the Magic Kingdom and having a thrilling and amazing time at Disneyland and California Adventure!

Pictures are on facebook, but This and This link to the public albums for those interested. The second is more images of the awesome lights and effects show they have before and after the firewors called Fantasmic. IT’S AWESOME.
And as for rides, we were super efficient with fast passes, and hit all the major rides AT LEAST twice. Notable Exceptions:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Six Times (lovingly misnamed multiple times, the best being Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Roaring Tiger. By Francesca)
Space Mountain: Four Times (MUST SIT IN FRONT. Also Violin-orchestral intense music on the ride makes it INTENSE)
Screamin’ California: Three Times (Another roller coaster WITH MUSIC!)
Splash Mountain: Three Times (Always in the back; less wet that way :3)

Our legs were worn and weary by the end, but it was very fun, and very much worth it.
Oh! And notable quotes:

Some guy we walked by: Where’s my wife and stuff..?

Prachi (To Francesca): Aww, you took that man’s flower!

Heehee~

In other news:

HAY SO ANYONE REMEMBER CHARLIE THE UNICORN HUH
WELL I’VE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT IT HAS A SEQUEL THAT’S MORE CRACK-TASTIC THAN BEFORE!
So far I’ve avoided getting addicted to it but upon remembering it tonight after two weeks, I’ve seen it twice more. THIS DOES NOT BODE WELL.

Finally, the past two days have been fairly game-filled to try to get as much as I can aside before going back to Amherst, and where RPGs are an unwise choice of games to try to finish quickly. BUT IN MY SUPER SATURATION, I GOT TIRED AND DECIDED TO COOK!
Inspired by Zarla’s own adventure in making Shepherd’s Pie, I set out to make the dish I prepared by the dozens for my Spanish House Tertulia project Dubbed the Pupusa, it’s a stuffed tortilla, typically stuffed with cheese but you can also use certain vegetables, pork-things, and refried beans inside. It’s like the Mexican Quesadilla. no firefox spellcheck i did not mean cadillac GET OFF MY BACK

I hope eventually to improve my cooking abilities to a level of general competency, and thus be able to cook in a variety methods and styles and still come out delicious. Thus, here, you’ll still see some amateurish things happening. But remember kids, SAFETY FIRST!

THE INGREDIENTS TO BEGIN WITH! Maseca, which is Corn Masa (flour-stuffs), a bowl of mixing, and a measuring cup! Of course I grab this tea cup thing instead

Mmm, Corn flour-stuffs

So you take a cup of the flour and dump it into the bowl.

Plop.

Then you pour in equal parts water. This makes the basic tortilla dough, and a good opportunity to get your hands dirty

However before this happened I got myself a Fanta. Those who know me will recall how quickly and often I get thirsty.


Hmm, that absorbed all the water kinda fast. LET’S PUT MORE IN


What you shouldn’t be this mushy NO TOO MUCH WATER

I went outside and dumped some of the dough-water out. Still, the entire thing was way too creamy. The solution to this? MORE FLOUR


Doughball doesn’t cracked when squished? Success!

Awesome.

ALMOST FORGOT you should add some salt too. You DO notice the difference. Anyways after mixing the salt in it got set aside.

And thus, the filling! Some sort of cheese with zest, mozzarella for fun, and salt, but really any mix of melty-cheeses will do.
SO many people get unsettled by the thought of adding salt to the cheese

Monterey Jack added!

Cheddar Added! (God you can only tell because the bowl seems to mysteriously have more cheese)

SALT, ADDED! Then you mix that together to get a fairly homogenous mix. There’s no way to tell with pure white cheese I SHOULD HAVE JUST BOUGHT THE DAMN MEXICAN MIX WHILE I WAS AT THE STORE
But now, the official pupusa making begins!

First, grab a bunch of dough and make it into a ball

Poke a large hole into it with your thumb or your fingers.

Fill said hole with cheesey goodness.

Pinch closed like a dumpling then flatten with your hands until you make a vague tortilla shape. SUCCESS!

Okay two down

Why is there so much dough and cheese left this is taking forever

You know the dough is stuffed with cheese why not mix the cheese in IT’LL COME OUT THE SAME (thanks to Mukta for the discovery)

Hmm.. can’t tell if the dough is cheesey enough. The solution?

ADD MORE CHEESE

Alright that looks and feels better TIME TO MAKE SOME TORTILLAS
Tada! Two normal ones and six lazy ones. Alright, time to fry em up!

Fortunately there was this pan on the stove already. I’m completely sure it’s usable and bears no other trace of food-essence.
Now for a spatula

What that’s not where the spatulas are WHERE HAVE THEY GONE

Still no luck. Though I found the olive oil THIS WILL BE A KEY ITEM

So close, but not quite

There we go!

Dude check out that melted handle SO NOT USING THIS

Eh this’ll work I’m not picky

ALRIGHT! COOKING STATION SET UP! COOKING-A-GO-GO

Let’s set the flame to low-ish for this

Add some oil to the pan (that was actually more than enough to spread around the entire pan, even if it doesn’t look like it), and let’s start with the cheese-permeated ones:


Awesome! Let’s get fryin!

Kay you know what this is taking forever MORE FIRE

Sliiiiide around the pan
With the higher flame though the oil started to crackle and sputter a bit, leading to some minor burning. Why I ignored my spatula so soon, I don’t know.

Hmm, ready to flip? You can tell because they stop sticking to the pan so much and they get this nice golden-brownish color to them typically

I think they’re ready!

Mmm those look delicious

Into the bowl you go!

Leanin’ Tower of Cheeeeeese-a. And tortilla dough.

MORE OLIVE OIL!



You can see that as these fried up, I got kind of hungry and began eating them. IT’S LIKE A CHEESEY TORTILLA COOKIE not at all how a pupusa should turn out BUT STILL DELICIOUS!

Four remain. ONTO THE ACTUAL PUPUSAS!


When they’re ready to flip, a pupusa will take on a color more akin to this. And they’ll stick less to the pan, too.

Of course, eventually the cheese inside will expand and seep out, hitting the pan and becoming deliciously fried as well..

I think they’re ready!

AND WALA! A delightful snack for any occasion.
And to make it a meal, more elaborate stuffings and the addition of cortido (which is this cabbage-carrot-vinegar-etc mix which is actually quite good) is necessary.

Next time I do this, it’ll be from Amherst, and it will be the Salvadoran Dish that so many loved on the campus:
QUEZADILLA!
(Notice the spelling difference from the Mexican queSadilla. A single letter changes the entire dish into… a cheesy cake!)

One more day in the bay! And then a day of travel (stupid time change), and I’ll be around again. See you soon