Hello masa-friends,
This is a brief one. I guess March and daylight savings haven’t been encouraging me to write.
Writers block, or whatever you call it, is probably something most “creative” types tend to go through. Like most habits that don’t come naturally to me, I need to practice them and maintain a routine In order for those habits to feel normal. As I write this, I’m straining for words and phrases. Straining for ideas that may resonate with you all. Straining to write something relevant.
This happens with food all the time. Making new recipes, fillings, salsas is not something that comes naturally to me. I have plenty of ideas, but I kill my darlings all day. Of every 25 ideas, maybe 5 are worth pursuing and maybe 1 makes it into a dish/product.
Bolita, as a retail pop-up, is constrained to recipes and items that will hold well in the fridge. If you enjoy something in a restaurant, shelf-life is not a major consideration when the chef/cook is coming up with that dish. Hot food, tends to be enjoyed in the moment, while it’s hot, in its pristine form. A tortilla can be cooked all the way through and enjoyed warm, within one minute of coming off the griddle.
With constraints come creativity, creativity that’s a result of problem solving. That tortilla that I would love to serve hot, is instead cooked about 80% through, quickly cooled, in a manner to retain moisture and meet health department requirements, and then vacuum sealed. Is it the best way of serving this product? Hell no. Tortillas should be fresh. But, I’m having to solve the problem that is our consumption habits. Habits formulated by our environment and use of preservatives, where we’ve come to expect that a tortilla lasts for a month in our refrigerator.
I want to make fresh masa and tortillas more accessible. Sometimes this means trying to solve an unsolvable problem— the shelf-life of a fresh tortilla. It is fresh in the moments after it is created. It become un-fresh as we extend its shelf life. “Fresh tortillas with a shelf life,” an oxymoronic phrase that will keep me up at night.
I guess ideas come quickly and solutions come slowly. Our retail expansion will happen, at some point, in the near future, on a timeline of its own, maybe.
As a way to express some of these ideas, I will be doing more pop-ups and events this summer. And, I am continuing to book small (12-25 people) catering events / dinners all summer long. In addition to our San Francisco Farmers market and our sporadic Oakland pop-ups, of course.
Pop-Up / Market Dates
TUES 3/29/22 - POP-UP Dinner, OAKLAND at Taco Oscar, Oakland, CA 94609 5:00pm - Sold Out. I am making so many tamales for this event. I PROMISE the wait will be reasonable, I love working out of Tacos Oscar’s kitchen and will get you food within 10 minutes.
THU 3/31/22 - San Francisco CUESA Mission Market 3:00pm-7:00pm. I will do my best to make additional tamales for the market! But we will have masa, tlacoyos, tortillas, salsas, and more.
More to come…
SUNDAY 6/19/2022 Outstanding in the Field Dinner
Carlo Espinas (The Lede, Camino) and I will be cooking a dinner in Soquel, CA at Everett Family Farm. These dinners tend to be pretty enjoyable. I recommend making a weekend out of it. Tickets available HERE