mostly earnest

Tag: internet

  • Signature Dish

    I learned how to make the Spanish Tortilla during the lockdown in 2020 and I continued to make them on a regular basis. I’ve cooked it so much, it has become my signature dish.

    It’s comfort food, a staple in Spanish households. It’s a great recipe to have in my back pocket for when I need to entertain or impress. And I have Juan, my friend to thank for, for first making it for me and then showing me how to do it.

    It’s not a complicated recipe but it is time consuming. The ingredients are simple – eggs, potatoes, onions and a fuck ton of olive oil. One of the steps requires you to flip the tortilla from the pan onto a plate. This still makes me nervous but I almost never fail if I take a breath before and do it in one swift motion. No hesitation.

    I tried many different recipes from the internet when I first started making them but I found that this one from Omar Allibhoy, works best for me.

  • Returning To WordPress

    I wanted to restart blogging ever since I came across this post from Ben Werdmuller.

    Admittedly, I started a blog last year but ran out of steam maintaining it. I had used Tumblr before and then WordPress during my late teens but in 2021, I thought I’d go with something a little more trendy and techie, something that gave off vibes like I was up to date with the latest and greatest in the tech world.

    I landed on Ghost. All the top productivity YouTubers (and I mean Ali Abdaal) rated it so I figured that is what I wanted too. It looked simple enough and had a catchy name to boot.

    Turns out, any vibe you wanted to exude can be attained effortlessly if you had the money for it. If not, be prepared to lose sleep figuring out how to upkeep the damn thing yourself.

    Very quickly the technical backend stuff became laborious but mostly it was just frustrating. Any adjustment or update had to be accessed through this black screen program with random words and numbers on it and I had no idea what any of that meant. Typing in the wrong code made my site inaccessible. It was maintenance I wasn’t prepared for and it completely sucked the fun out of blogging so I abandoned it after two months.

    The lesson here is that sometimes the new and shiny thing might get you a seat at the cool kids table but it always comes with a hefty price. Sticking with something that is known to work for decades even if a little dated in the game will save me a ton in head aches. That is why, after nearly two decades, I am back at WordPress.