Focaccia Frenzy #3: Sweet Potato Coco Focaccia
and some updates about my new journey as a father.
Today’s recipes are for paid subscribers, and remember that attached you will find two ways to make the Sweet Potato Coco Focaccia: The Easy Way or the Technical Way. That means that if you’re in a pinch on time, or don’t have a sourdough starter, you can still make this recipe and it will turn out great. And for those of you that love that extra fermentation and flavor, the Technical version of this recipe is for you.
Two days ago, my son was born. I am feeling over the moon and flooded with emotions and feelings that I’ve never felt before. My baby boy and my incredible wife are doing great and we will be home by the weekend!
If you’ve followed my work for a while, have read my cookbooks, or seen my show Baked In Tradition, you’ll know that family means everything to me. I talk about my mom and dad often as the main source of inspiration that has propelled me forward through this entrepreneurial web of projects over the last 10 years. The strength and fortitude that I witnessed growing up from my parents molded me into who I am today.
The thing is, my upbringing helped me understand the rigors of life quite early. My parents are from Honduras, a beautiful lush land in Central America full of incredible nature, intriguing indigenous traditions, and delicious food ways. However, these things are often not enough to help parts of the population thrive. So much of Latin America has been overexploited, leading to poor governance, poverty, and thus emigration.
I was born in the Bronx, a hub for Honduran and other LATAM communities - however, a part of our family also relocated to New Orleans, a more affordable and slower paced hub for Hondurans. At the tender age of 1, we moved to New Orleans and settled in the metropolitan area.
My entrepreneurial spirit comes from watching my parents do literally anything to make ends meet. My mom cleaned houses while going to school at night and raising 4 kids. She would bring us along through all of this on the bus or streetcar. We went with her from house to house, and then to the classroom at the community college. I truly don’t know how or when she slept for the longest time, but she was always up and at em. My dad didn’t complete higher education, but he worked every possible job you could imagine to make sure we could get a loaf of bread and some beans: parking cars, shoveling snow, and ultimately selling cars on various used lots. Although he never had stable employment, he always made sure we had a roof over our head.
Another key to learning how to create opportunity is having a positive attitude when things aren’t looking great. Perhaps there isn’t much food at home, or maybe my dad lost his job. I very quickly learned how to turn nothing into something, whether it was crafting a meal from a few ingredients or finding a way to play in a soccer program my family couldn’t afford.
This is the spirit of the American dream. There is no playbook to any of this, and there is no right or wrong way to figure things out. But now, I’m on the other side of the equation. I know that my actions, words, and behaviors will impact my son for the rest of his life. While there have already been moments of internal doubt about my abilities to succeed as a father, overall these feelings have given me some incredible jolts of motivation in the last 24 hours that I’m sure will continue to intensify.
Ultimately, YOU will benefit because the harder I work, the more recipes, workshops, tutorials, cookbooks, and TV shows you’ll be able to enjoy. And with all of that being said…
LETS MAKE SOME MORE CARIBBEAN FOCACCIA!
A couple of weeks ago, for whatever reason, I posed a sourdough focaccia that I made with some frozen Jamaican beef patties pressed into it. Honestly, I was making some focaccias and when it came time to bake them I got so bored looking at my rosemary bush. Is this really what I need to do still?