I originally saw the announcement calling for submissions while working on this blog at Sip in the middle of January.  I immediately called up Aaron and we started working with the main idea complete just two days later.  This project was incredibly fun to brainstorm, storyboard, and film.

I hope that you have as much fun watching this flick as we had making it!

At my Christmas party two years ago, she brought her Mom’s version of Pastel Diplomatico, a traditional Mexican dessert consisting of flan and chocolate cake.  The cake was devoured and my roommate and I had a battle over the tiny remaining piece.

After bringing the dessert again to this year’s Christmas party (I’m just sayin’, I think that this should become a tradition…), I asked her if she would be interested in sharing the recipe.  It’s so good that you will need a diplomat to help you decide who gets that last piece.

–San Antonio Joe

One thing Mexicans know how to do is bake. We’ve got our empanadas, cuernos, reposteria, and – of course – pastel, or what you gringos call “cake.”

My grandparents owned a bakery in a small town in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. This spawned many bakers in my family, including my cousin who now owns his own bakery in the town of Cadereyta, Nuevo León.

Several years ago, my cousin visited our family in San Antonio and made El Diplomatico, a tactful and delectable pairing of chocolate and flan cake.  Over the years, my mother has taken this cake to a new level, adding her special touch to this dessert, causing one of my aunts to exclaim, “¡Parece que estamos en la gloria¡”

San Antonio Joe asked me to write a guest post on his blog with this family recipe (because he knows good food).  So with my Mom’s permission, I share with you the secret recipe of El Diplomatico.

El Diplomatico
Click here for El Diplomatico Recipe Cards!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Blender
• Bundt pan
• Large casserole dish that fits a Bundt pan
• Aluminum foil

INGREDIENTS

For the Flan

• 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 12 oz can evaporated milk
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Cake

• 1 box of Betty Crocker™ Super Moist Cake Mix “Triple Chocolate Fudge” flavor (and the ingredients shown on the box:  3 eggs, 1 1/3 cups water, ½ cup vegetable oil)
• 1 Tbsp instant pudding powder (chocolate flavor)
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise (to make the cake extra moist!)

For the Topping

• ½ cup cajeta (goat’s milk), dulce de leche or caramel
• Chopped pecans for topping
• A little bit of butter and flour to grease the Bundt pan

DIRECTIONS

Start by preheating the oven to 350ºF.

Part 1: The Flan

1.  Add all flan ingredients to the blender and mix on a high setting for several minutes until the ingredients are in a liquid state.

2.  Set aside.

Part 2: The Chocolate Cake

1.  Separate the egg whites and yolk.  Whip the egg whites in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.  Set the egg yolks aside in a small bowl.

2.  Add the remaining ingredients (including the egg yolk) to the mixture and mix well.

3.  Set aside.

Part 3: Where Flan Meets Chocolate Cake (how diplomatic of them!)

1.  Grease all sides of Bundt pan with butter.

2.  Sprinkle flour on all sides of the Bundt pan.

3.  Pour the cajeta (or dulce de leche/caramel) in the Bundt pan.

4.  Pour in the flan mix.

5.  Pour in the cake mix so that the mixtures almost reach the top. (You may have some cake mix left over.)

6.  Cover the Bundt pan with aluminum foil and seal the edges tightly. Cut out the middle portion to seal the inside edge.

7.  Place the Bundt pan inside the casserole dish and place in the preheated oven.

8.  Fill the casserole with water so that the flan portion of the Bundt pan is surrounded by water. (This practice is called “baño Maria” or “bain marie.”)

9.  Bake for 75 minutes.

10.  Carefully remove the cake from the oven.

11.  Let the cake cool for 30-60 minutes, then place in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 7-8 hours).

12.  When ready to serve, remove the aluminum foil and gently use a knife or other flat utensil to loosen the cake edges from the pan.

13.  Place your presentation plate bottom up on top of the Bundt pan. Flip both plate and pan over. The cake should slip out easily.

14.  Garnish with chopped pecans for decoration.

More drinks came and we had more and more ideas where not only would you have to find a person with characteristics, but you might have to get a person to do something funny (do the moonwalk, sing a Miley Cyrus song, tie a knot in a cherry stem without using their hands).  This craziness served as the conception of an iPhone app that would become BarCards.

Upon release, the app has gotten a decent amount of press from Apple and was on the front page of the iTunes App store for several weeks.  BarCards was also picked up on different blogs including some major ones such as Mashable and Gizmodo.

I got to say though that tonight one of the cooler stories has just been released.  Jason Buch, writer for the San Antonio Express News, came out with photographer Ivan Aguirre to see BarCards in action with my friends and I this last Friday night at Rebar.  He ended up writing this story that was in the Business Section where he interviewed folks playing the app and even some people who were asked random questions.

In case you might be interested, I have also started a blog over at Piñojo Productions that gives insight into the app development process from a VERY non technical person’s point of view.

I am pretty pumped how an app that started out over a couple of beers has taken a life of its own!

I’m a West Texas boy through and through; you probably have noticed it from my colloquial style of writing, and if you ever heard me open up my mouth, you would know immediately that I am not from South Texas.  I know that West Texas is incredibly flat and treeless, but to me, there is a charm in that desolate landscape.

To paraphrase a comment that I once heard Joe Ely say (and this is not verbatim): West Texas is strange because if you sit in the middle of a cotton field and look up you feel two diametrically opposed things.  At one time, you feel like you are the center of the world and everything kind of is centered on you.  At another time you realize how small and insignificant you are and how big the universe truly is.  Go stand in the middle of a cotton field and you’ll know what he’s saying.

Lubbock is my hometown, and I had the fortune of getting to return for a family member’s graduation in the middle of May.  Being recently unemployed, I had a lot of time to spend with my family and decided to go up in the middle of the week.  By doing this, I was able to visit a good friend and one of my favorite places to eat, Giorgio’s.

Giorgio’s is a pizza joint in downtown Lubbock on Broadway and it is owned and run by George, one of the most friendly and smart people that you will ever meet.  George has a diverse background and speaks something on the order of six different languages, has a mechanical engineering degree, and has a ton of experience in a wide array of businesses.

The front of Giorgio's Pizza off the brick street Broadway in Lubbock, TX.

I have been going to Giorgio’s since I was a sophomore in high school back in 1998.  From that time until I graduated Tech with my Master’s Degree in 2005, I ate at Giorgio’s at least once a week (if not more).  The restaurant became more than just a place to eat, it because a place to congregate, celebrate, and just have a lot of fun.  There were many good memories (and good meals) that happened at Giorgio’s in high school and college.

When I went to Tech, I started getting a group to go there every Friday; being further away from campus and in a part of town most students don’t venture out to, it was a tough sell at first.  But after the first bite, people became hooked and many made the pilgrimage every Friday for some good food.  I particularly enjoyed going in college because there was no “time limit” on how long we had for lunch.  Often times, meals would turn into events full of lively conversation, storytelling, and full on clowning around.

George has his doors open Monday through Friday from 11:00AM – 6:00PM, so it was always difficult for me to get up to Lubbock to eat there when I entered the corporate world.  In fact, I don’t think I have been there in some two and half years.  I was thrilled to get the chance to finally get to catch up with a good friend and eat some really good food.

I was greeted by the familiar awning, window paintings having the prices (from 1998 to 2010, George only went up a buck and a quarter to $5.50 on his famous two slices of pizza and drink combo (tax included)), and the red and white checkered floor.  Walking in, George hollered at me, “Hey my friend, long time no see!” It seemed like only a week had gone by since my last visit.

Since this blog primarily focuses on food, I will write a little bit about it here. I always favored the two slices of pepperoni pizza as my meal of choice; it will definitely fill you up as it is pretty much a quarter of a pizza! What really makes it is the crust, it is the perfect thickness and a little chewy.  The sauce also busts out with fresh flavor and that combination just makes it awesome!

Recently (and by recently, I mean probably since 2003), I started ordering the meat calzones (particularly on cloudy days); they are gigantic and filled with sausage, pepperoni, cheese, and sauce.  You can ask for a specialty made one stuffed just with pepperoni (quite the gut buster) or one that is vegetarian.  I always opt for a side of sauce to pour a little extra in the calzone and have to dip the  crust in.  My mouth is watering right now thinking of it.

This calzone will fill you up for sure! I like to get mine with a side of sauce.

As you have read my blog you probably realized that food and eating out is, to me, as much about the experience and the people preparing the food as it is about the food itself.  George really delivers on this by really making you feel glad that you chose his restaurant to dine.

He greets everyone with the cordial, “How are you doing my friend,” and for anyone who has been in more than a couple of times, he already knows something about that person to carry on a casual conversation and will ask, “Do you want the usual?” In fact, Andrew, one of the guys who would always go every Friday with me in college, was in Lubbock on a recruiting trip recently and George not only remembered his name, but also enough about him to ask what he was up to in Houston, how the other folks were doing who used to come in with us, and also if he wanted the usual.  This had been something like 3 years since he had seen him last!

I value George as good friend and mentor; he is one of those entrepreneurs who has inspired me in my life and made me realize that I want to start my own business.  Many days around closing, I would go into Giorgio’s just to talk with him about business, life, and pick his brain about how to make it on your own.  These conversations left an imprint on me to this day and I try to adopt many of his philosophies and ideas.

Giorgio’s has experienced its fare share of changes as well.  Neighboring business has come and gone around his storefront.  Prices have gone up slightly.  Students who eat their religiously graduate and move on and new ones fill their chairs.  Employees turn over and new ones come in to help out; this was kind of a sad point for me as one of the guys I really enjoyed talking with left for another opportunity.

Yet the food, friendliness, and red and white checkered floor remains constant.  I might not be able to go home, but at least for now I can go to Giorgio’s, and that is close enough.

Value: 10/10 (At $5.50 for a full plate of pizza and a drink (includes tax), how can you go wrong?)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (In downtown Lubbock, this joint feels like a throwback with red and white checkered floors)
Service: 10/10 (Can’t beat it; everyone is greeted with a “How are you doin’ my friend!”; go there a handful of times and the owner will know your “usual”)
Taste: 10/10 (Some of the best tasting pizza, calzones, and lasagna in the world!)
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I paired the steak and potatoes with some grilled zucchini and I throw in some serrano peppers for flavor.  I truly love hot/spicy things so I often mix in some serranos, other peppers, and green chili into whatever I cook.  I have two roommates who are both a little sensitive to some of the hot things that I cook.  The female roommate is from the south and has been living with me for around 2 years and I have brought her up to speed where she can eat a lot of the hot things that I cook in moderation.  The male roommate is relatively new to the house and is a Kansas boy — thus he is not familiar with spicy food or peppers; in fact, it has been my duty to introduce him to the world of hot foods.  Anyway, I told my roommates that there were some peppers in the zucchini and to avoid them, but the male roommate, Aaron, neglected to head my warning. He ate the pepper and his mouth was on fire.

Needless to say, after he had this small experience with a serrano pepper (he actually didn’t even eat it — he spit it out), I decided to make a bet with him.

The bet was that Aaron had to eat a sliver of the serrano pepper, and after he swallowed it and had nothing in his mouth, he had to wait a minute until he could put anything (water, milk, sour cream, bread, etc.). If Aaron was able to do this, I had to give him $5 and a six pack of Lone Star Beer. If he wussed out and had to drink or eat something because of the heat, he had to buy the six pack and we would split it.

This is the video that documents this bet. Will he make it or will he wuss out. Remember, he is from Kansas and not Texas!