joey1320

Just a small update: Contacted Wanda Foote at the city health/food department and she was extremely helpful regarding the licenses, fees and all related legal stuff. She was super quick answering all my question and I'm super happy to have made contact with someone who truly cares. As far as the baking lesson for Saturday, due to some unexpected issues I won't be able to meet Andy at Elmwood Bakery so I decided to ask someone else whose baking is also top-notch - that would be my mother-in-law. Her Christmas cookies, pumpkin pies and all the homemade desserts are to die for, so it was an easy fix :-D I'll have my wife take pictures of the whole process and will be posting them here. Also I'm having my wife take care of the social media issues and will be updating those links soon. :wink: 8-)

Well not much has happened lately :( I have been doing a lot of house work and helping my sister-in-law and my brother renovate a hair salon they just purchased. They are new business owners and it's extremely exciting to see them turn their dream into a reality. As far as "mopanadas yum!", I'm working on four solid recipes which I hope to have finished this week. I'm also making plans to meet with Andy Rerko, one the owners of "Elmwood Bakery" in Lakewood and the main baker there. He's a dear friend of my wife and I, and he has offered his baking/teaching skills in showing me the best way to make/bake empanada dough. Im hoping to meet with him this upcoming Saturday and may need some flavor feedback. If any member is interested in helping I will gladly give out free samples in return of honest feedback. Please let me know via text @216-571-95 one four I'll greatly appreciate it! Joey L.

Just wanted to know if there are any filmmakers in the forum or do you know of someone? I recently wrote a 21 page movie script(CeltX) and would like to find some locals to share it with or possibly have them take over the project. I've been meaning to go to the indie club meetings in the east side, but I refuse to use Facebook and all of their news/info goes through FB :| So here I am, anyone interested in collaborating? The movie idea is a magical realism love story - yes I'm an avid Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende reader - and the plan was for me to shoot it, edit it and submit it to some local shows but I will never have the time needed for such a thing. I have some camera and audio equipment which can be use(Sony HX100v, steadicam, dolly, ATR6550, Sony ICD-PX333), along with an editing software(Sony Vegas Studio HD 1O). Plus I will do anything needed to make this happen :wink: If intersted in learning about the script or would like to meet, please contact me, I would love to bring this story to fruition. I think it has plenty of potential and can be shot with 3 actors and minor locations. Thanks! Joey

Its been a crazy week with my son getting sick and simply not having enough time to do anything related to the bike, but I did buy a few more things I will use in the future. I found a good deal on a kid carrier which will become my trailer and an 80's Coleman cooler "fridge" which may work as the carrying vessel. We will see :-D Now the plan is to break down the trailer, reinforce it, mock it in place and paint it black to match the bike(or powder coat it). As far as the "fridge", I wont use the plastic trays inside but the unit is extremely well built and will look good once painted and decals applied. As far as the actual temp, I have to find a way to keep the interior over 140* F due to heatlh code specifics, so that's my next step. Also while reading the Scene today I learned about clevelandsoup.org and I'm thinking about pitching my idea to the organizers, what do you guys think? I knew abou the Detroit one but didn't know there was one here :?

Gracias for the support ;) As far as fried empanadas, I think I'll pass at the moment. I won't eat them myself and although I'm not selling veggies and salads, I do want to promote a healthier version of our classics. As far as pasteles, that's definitely an option for the future. Crazy that you lived in Lorain and now in South Bronx, since I myself did too. I had a girlfriend back in. '01-'03 who lived in Lorain and I moved in with her. She turned out to be kinda crazy so that was that haha. I also lived in South Bronx back in 1990. We stayed off of Fordharm and Jerome. Those were some crazy times since the crack epidemic was still going full force then, man were there some sketchy places back then. One of the most memorable things about living out there was finding two life size shark statues/casts. They were made out of fiberglass and still weighted about 50lbs each and were probably 17ft long. My brothers and I carried them back to our small ass apartment and my parents laughed their asses off since we thought we could hang them on our walls. I have no clue whatever happened to them ha.

;) Well I do plan on going for the bakery classes soon, so once that's done and I've learned from a master(guy has been a baker all his adult life), I'll be making some at home and trying out recipes. If you guys want, I'll be glad to hand out free samples.

Good, THANK YOU ;) Kind of weird that being from San Juan, you use "pastelillo" ha. Anyways, what type of empanadas do you like best? I'm planning on making the normal ground meat and chicken but I want to have newer flavors also. I was thinking of a sweet plantain one, maybe a peanut butter/bacon one and just trying out new ideas. The peanut butter/bacon is not the healthy version :-P I have reached out to a local bakery and the owner is more than happy to teach me proper dough making and baking, and maybe even use his place as a commisary kitchen. I'll be out of town next week, so after that I'll be looking to meet up with him. More info to follow :)

Haha nope, not at all. I wasn't insinuating that, just that city leaders and developers can easily manipulate the utility prices/taxes of the neighborhood in order to shift the tenants/owners into different sections of the city. BTW Yes, I'ma bit of a conspircy theory nut.

Thanks for the welcoming! I'm not so sure about the utiltiy bills going up, since mine haven't done so since my wife and I bought our home in '08. I even have the same electronic water meter reader and haven't seen one change. His bills are way higher and even after paying RotoRooter to inspect for any water leaks, and not finding any, they continue to climb every 3 months. Who knows what will happen. I'll definitely keep you guys updated on his fortunes :)

A friend of mine of over 20 years, who lives off of W32th. and Walton Ave. was told by an ex city development worker, to expect an increase in property taxes, electric/water/sewer bills and a major overhaul of the sorrounding areas in order to change the "face" of its residents. He has already seen a tremendous (23%) increase so far in his water/sewer bill from last year which, after contacting the city, was told it was because the new electronic meters are more accurate - but lucky him he would not be charged for previous usage. There have been numerous houses around his which have been demolished and he is aware that this will be the new area where big changes are going to happen, just like w25th/Lorain Ave., W65th./Detroit Ave and such. His only hope is to be able to stay there long enough to see his property value increase, before being "forced" out of his home by the higher taxes and utility bills.

I'm not sure if you are implying that I'm not proud of our culture, due to the fact that I used a more common term to describe a food item :( Also, is it safe to assume you are from the west coast of the island? Only asking because I know they use the word "pastelillo" on that side of PR(Ponce, Rincon, Boqueron), where in Caguas where I'm from, I've only heard the word "empanadilla", while "pastelillo" is used for the sweet-type of desserts like "pastelillo de guayaba"(guava cake). Going back to the latino vs hispanic argument, I think it's more important to know our culture and not worry too much about what we or others call ourselves/us. I've enjoyed reading the works of Pedro Albizu Campos, Ramon E. Betances and Filiberto Ojeda Ríos among others, and I feel a great pride for my culture and our long and difficult history. It's truly sad to see Puerto Rico in its current condition but that sadness leads me to remember my island as my first love. Now I want to bring a bit of that, in this case with my food, to my friends and neighbors in Cleveland ;)

Over the past few weeks I have gotten some work done on the bike. I'm going for a 1920's/30's board track racer look and this is coming together quite well. Test fitting the front fork and wheel. Here's the rear wheel, handlebars and rear rack gas tank test fitted. Had some free time at work last week, so more work was done. And finally after switching the handlebars around and securing all the parts. Now I have to fix a crank to it and figure out the carrying container situation. I may go with a front and rear basket or a side cart, still working out the design. I shall call thee Skeletor!!!

Seems like I'll be reading/using this site a lot in the near future :-D http://clevelandfoodtruck.com/

Hola!!! I used empanada instead of "pastelillos" - this is the actual word used in Puerto Rico - to make it easier for everyone to recognize and be more comfortable if they decide to try one out. Also the name flows better with "Mopanadas" as opposed to "Mopadillos", at least imo haha. As far as using hispanic as opposed to latino, I see latino as more of a caribbean word(Cuban, Puertoricans, Dominicans) and hispanic as the larger form of the spanish speaking people. Not trying to disrespect anyone here at all, that's just the way I see it :wink: In regards to the separation and lack of support for one another, I still think we are decades behind with bigger metropolitan cities with large hispanic populations. Not only in a cultural stanpoint, but politics, retail and such. It seems that besides Barrocco, there really isn't a large demographic of food establishments that are crossing over to the mainstream. I don't really count mexican restaurants here, because imo that's a whole different aspect of our culture. Now politics, who is really out there voicing our opinions and needs? Another thing is a lcak of a strong leadership group which could target our younger generation and teach/support them into a better future. It's unfortunate but it seems like we are stuck in the same routine week after week and nobody cares. :| StrapHanger[/member] - thank you for the support - its really appreciated. :wave: Joey L.

Thanks for the support :) I still cant understand why we are not more helpful towards each other. It baffles my mind the whole mentality of "me, me, me". Hopefully they get their issues resolved. I'm sorry for the humongous pics, I'll resize them later tonight once the baby goes to sleep.