Unleash the food porn!
New cover for the San Diego Reader:
That’s what I worked really hard two days in a row, almost three weeks ago. The results don’t show my effort, well, at least not on the online version. I have no idea how it looks on print. I have no idea how many pictures they used inside. Or if they did a double spread or how many pictures they used. For now. It’s just this.
Which leads you to several articles by authors but not that many pictures.
SO MANY PICTURES OF GREAT FOOD.
I’ll eventually be posting a lot of them in my Tijuana Adventure Instagram though all the food is from north of the border. There are just way too many good pictures of food.
Speaking of pictures of food.
My girlfriend’s birthday yesterday went great.
I waited for her in the usual spot with the dry flowers she likes that are center pieces at Colectivo 9.
This:
Everyone on the street looked at me like the cheesy mother fucker that I am.
She loved them. Her day at work went great and she got pranked there (they told her she was in trouble, it was to give her balloons and candy).
Now there are flowers all over the house. And the cacti. The apartment looks very festive.
We came home so she could drop her presents. And she immediately started cleaning and placing the flowers in beer bottles just like the center pieces in Colectivo 9.
Then she took a nap. And I woke her up because I had ordered special food from Tras Horizonte.
Oso, the chef at Tras/Horizonte cooked some amazing specialties for us. Seriously. It was really fucking good.
My girlfriend said it was her best birthday meal she has ever had. So I’m happy that that worked.
For starters, oysters. Half a dozen, each prepared differently.
We got drinks with that. Beers and cocktails.
And waited for the main course.
Which was grilled spicy octopus on a bed of risotto with portobello, and grilled vegetables.
It was beyond good. The best octopus we’ve had so far. The tentacles were gigantic. And the portobello risotto was sublime. The presentation was dope as fuck as well.
Look at that fucking beauty.
This was followed by amazing dessert.
My sister-in-law joined the party with the kids and then my brother arrived. And then this terrarium.
The light was gone, so the pics are kinda crappy.
Yes. That’s what dessert looked like. Almost all was edible except for some flowers. It had some sort of crumpled cheesecake at the bottom, three different types of ice cream, and more goodies.
Overall, I was blown away by the meal and didn’t except it to be this grand.
My wallet also took a very heavy hit. If we didn’t order drinks, then it would have been okay. Drinks are very expensive at Tras/Horizonte. The meal was relatively cheap for how fucking great it was.
Splurging is done. I made good money on the last bi-week (for Tijuana standards), but I’m not making much money this bi-week because I HAVEN’T BEEN FUCKING WORKING. And that changes now. Though I’m not sure what I’m doing.
Sigh…
Rent needs to be paid. I owe my girlfriend money for the plane ticket. And that sets me back to… being a broke fucker again.
So no more splurging! I completely have been over splurging since the weekend. It’s not my fault. Tijuana is cheap and it makes it so easy to get carried away and order everything.
And it was my girlfriend’s birthday. So of course, I splurged. I still want to buy her more stuff. I don’t have the money anymore.
On the Tijuana Adventure IG, I uploaded a trippy video of the octopus.
I downloaded an application called Plotagraph Pro. Paid $5 for it. It’s nice. It’s worth it. I don’t know how much I will be using it, but it animates pictures in a really cool way. WordPress doesn’t allow me to upload movies. So it doesn’t work. Maybe this link works… maybe? It doesn’t seem like its working…
Speaking of Tijuana Adventure, Travel Magazine did a quick write-up about tour guides in Tijuana. They included me in their small article and wrote this little snippet.
“TIJUANA ADVENTURE, EXCLUSIVE CRAFT BEER & STREET FOOD TOURS WITH MATINGAS.FROM $50 PER PERSON.
Run by a talented and knowledgeable local writer and photographer, these fun-packed tours are designed for intimate groups no bigger than 8 and centre around Tijuana’s thriving food and craft beer scene (the craft beer of the Baja region is known to be the best around). Tours are often highly improvised, creating a sense of spontaneity and fun, and the fascinating stories come thick and fast. Some of the regular highlights include stopping off for a drink in a dive bar (renowned for their dark lighting and colourful characters), and sampling locally brewed craft beer and the traditional Mexican liquor known as mescal. Sustenance comes in the shape of mouth-watering street tacos. For a wilder experience, the host has also gained a reputation for organising raucous bachelor parties. Guests must make their own way from San Diego, which is only a 30-minute journey by road – just be sure to bring a valid passport.”
Hah. It links to my website to the part where I just ended with “BLAH I’ll finish this later.”
Well… that doesn’t look great…
Shitty coffee.
Shitty workout.
Breakfast.
Shower.
Work.
Girlfriend has another birthday celebration today. She is going to the karaoke bar with her friends from work.
I wanted to like karaoke for her. I don’t. I still absolutely hate it. I want to try it just to be with her… but at the same time I feel this heavy weight of “fuck it, you don’t enjoy it at all, why force it.” So yeah…
I might end up going just because… but fuck do I hate karaoke.
Not sure what I will be working on. I need to work. My whiteboard is somewhat empty.
Sigh.
I need a part time job or a full-time job that makes me work when I don’t feel like it. That’s the biggest problem about freelancing. Sometimes I just don’t feel like working and I know I won’t die. I just know I’ll be poor and get by. If I had a job, even if I didn’t want to work, I would just to keep the job. And I could keep splurging. Except I wouldn’t have much time to splurge. Which means I would save money…
Sigh.
Going back to Indeed.com to find more work. I’ve applied to a few more jobs already. Time to keep on doing it.
And force myself to write.
That’s up next as well.
Some phone calls later this afternoon to set up a photo shoot perhaps tomorrow.
Let’s see what happens.
Word vomit out.
Matingas 