Making Room by Gather
Hospitality. What do you think of when you hear that word?
For some it's old school 'stuffy' entertaining for others it's something to do with the hotel industry. One thing is for sure, as a culture we're not talking about it much.
Food * Design * Relationships have seemed to have taken a back seat to what our culture focuses on and values yet...we find ourselves in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Something has to change, it's time to get back to our tables, and we're making room for it!
Making Room by Gather invites you into a new conversation on everyday hospitality. One that rewrites the way we approach opening your doors and filling your tables. Shifting the narrative from 'how does this make me look' to 'how does this make you feel' these buildable conversations aspire to inspire connection through everyday gathering.
Kayty's chic and a little quirky interview style will make you feel like you're sitting with a friend talking about how to grow in confidence as an everyday host. You can expect conversations from navigating challenging relationship dynamics to foundational cooking techniques and everything in between.
Whether you are a seasoned host or looking to develop new friendships and grow in your skills for the first time, there is a seat at the table. Join us weekly for new conversations with expert guests and with Kayty in her beloved Date with Kayt episodes. Continue the conversation @gatheritentionalliving
Making Room by Gather
Tacos, Tamales, and TikTok: Authentic Mexican Cuisine at Home w/ Freddsters
I'll be honest, for years my knowledge of Mexican cuisine consisted of Tortilla chips, salsa and If I really wanted to live on the edge, some queso, too! It wasn't until I went to Mexico my Senior year of high school that I experienced REAL authentic cuisine and the flavors that quickly showed me what I was missing! Today's guest Freddsters shares how his families recipes can give you these very flavors at home...with ease!
Freddsters worked as a private chef for MLB players before turning his culinary talents to social media during the pandemic. What began as casual posting evolved into a full-fledged career after landing his first brand partnership.
The conversation turns to his cookbook, which brilliantly bridges traditional Mexican recipes with incredible fusion dishes like Mexican chicken parmesan and street corn potato salad.
Discover the story behind Fredddsters' signature product, Salsa Macha (a Mexican-style chili crisp), and learn why this versatile condiment works splendidly on everything from traditional Mexican dishes to pasta, pizza, and fried chicken. Ready to add some new recipes to your weekly recipe line up? You won't want to miss this conversation!
This Episode is Sponsored by:
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Hey guys, welcome back to Making Room. I am so glad you're here. This is a really, really fun conversation, especially if you're a foodie. So listen, growing up, my understanding of Mexican food was like tortilla chips and red salsa. It kind of ended there and then Chipotle entered the scene and then it was tortilla chips, salsa and maybe a burrito. It was tortilla chips, salsa and maybe a burrito, you know. But it wasn't until I went to Mexico in high school actually, and tasted the real deal that I knew that there was so much more in Mexican cuisine than what I was experiencing. And it was since then that I've gotten really curious and gotten super bored with Chipotle and wanted to learn more, especially as we expose Wesley to new foods, as he's eating more.
Speaker 1:So today we have Fredsters on the show and he is going to be talking about his new book, which I can't wait for you to hear more about. His product line to elevate your everyday Mexican eating at home and goodness, so much more in the mix. Well, alfredo Garcia has been a full-time content creator since 2021. And before that, he was a private chef for multiple mlb players, which is so interesting to me. His love of cooking is inspired by the strong women in his family, especially his mother, grandmother and aunts. He'd watch them as they'd make. Oh my gosh, how do you say it? Fred? You're on the screen with me.
Speaker 2:Pretty much everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretty much everything, easily. His all-time favorite meal and cuisine tacos and every kind of salsa you can imagine. His first product, salsa Matcha, is available for sale at Fredsterscom and in the show notes he resides in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Show notes he resides in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Well, summer is finally here officially. I am recording this after Memorial Day and I'm wearing all things white, if you know. You know, and planning on spending the whole season outside and hopefully a little bit of travel too.
Speaker 1:Well, I am going to share something with you guys that I think everyone should know about and you are going to be so excited to learn about, and that is my friend Stephanie from Travel with Stephanie. She is an agent of Adventure US Travel and, oh my gosh, before you think, why in the world would I work with a travel agent? I have the internet at my fingertips. You have to know about this. It is totally free to work with her. Totally free, no cost at all, no commitment. She's just here to make your life easier, and don't we all want a little taste of that? She is a memory making specialist and she specializes in destinations like sandals and beaches, resorts, the Caribbean and all things Disney. I have referred her to some of my personal friends. They've already worked with her and raved about her personally, to me and all over their social medias, because she got them access to things that they wouldn't have been able to on their own at rates that they wouldn't have been able to. And, jess, she has so much research that she's able to give to you. That saves you so much time. So this season, if you are looking to plan your own trips, I cannot encourage you enough to reach out to her. I will link all of her information in the show notes, but you can find her on Instagram at Travel With Stephanie, and she spells her name S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I.
Speaker 1:She is the most genuine, the sweetest, loves all things vacation and family and would love to make your summer or really anytime you're traveling, so much more memorable. With that, there's a really unique offer. Stephanie and I are actually headed to I think I'm going to say it right Antigua in September, the 11th to the 15th, for a girls trip. If you are looking to get away with a group of girls, here's the deal you could join us and follow along in the activities, or you could totally make it your own and avoid all of us and just hang out by the pool. And guys, you will not believe the price. It is an all-inclusive, paid, all-inclusive trip All of your meals, your airfare, your transportation, even down to the tips, and the prices start at roughly $1,500 a person. You heard that right, that's the rate for if you share a room with someone, but it is absolutely so affordable. I am so excited to get away with a bunch of girls and just rest. We all need that right. So you could reach out to me for more information on the trip or directly to travel with Stephanie, but be sure to let her know that you heard about the trip through Making Room by Gather. And guys, how fun, how fun would it be to hang out all together in person, eat our hearts out and for all of us that love hosting so so much, take a break from doing all the things and just be served. Oh my gosh, that sounds like heaven. Will I see you there?
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitality educator and the host of Making Room by Gather podcast. I am set to see our communities get back to the table through hospitality, but it wasn't always this way. My husband and I moved to Thailand and through it I experienced some loneliness and with it I was given a choice to sit back and accept it or to do something about it. And for me, that meant two things that I needed the healing to learn how to accept an invitation, and the confidence to know how to extend one. Through this process, I developed some of the richest and deepest relationships of my life.
Speaker 1:Through Making Room by Gather, you will hear conversations from myself and experts in the areas of food, design and relationships. You see there are countless things trying to keep us from the table. But can I tell you something? Take a seat because you are ready, you are capable, you are a good host. Let's dive in. I want to start by talking about the cooking for MLB players. We've never had anyone, I mean, even remotely close to that kind of background. So what do you wish people knew about it? What's, what's the behind the scenes is maybe not told.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it was kind of like like a connection based thing that I got it. My cousin he was in the minor leagues at the time but he was close with, he knew one of the major league players, that um for the St Louis Cardinals and he was a starting pitcher and this guy he always had a personal chef for him to like do breakfast or dinner or whatever. So he needed one at the time and it was my spring break coming up so it was like my trial run to work for him.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And I did that. I ended up extending my trip like by like two days, so like I had to like miss a test or two and then like retake it when I got back to school. But immediately after college I started working for him and it was kind of cool, pretty much just like did all the shopping, shopping, did all the cooking. Um, it was very simple. Like I made like maybe four or five things. Like he had a very strict diet, so like I made the same thing pretty much all the time. I haven't made fajitas ever since, because that's what I made all the time.
Speaker 2:Um, it was like some type of protein, like a bunch of like veggies, and then like that was basically it. But it was fun. I loved it. It taught me a lot about cooking, because some things that I would make for it were like things I had never cooked before. So like there I was like on YouTube, like how do you cook a lobster tail and things like that. Wow, every now and then he would request like some nicer things, but it all worked out. So I loved it.
Speaker 1:What a fun gig.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's always. It's always fun I mean you hear this all the time to monetize doing something you love, and I also love that you shared that you do YouTube things sometimes. You know, because sometimes you like jump into opportunity what's in front of you but you're not fully ready, right, like you learn learn as you go. Yeah, there is like so much room to do that, that's so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I loved it.
Speaker 1:Cool, really cool. Well, there are a lot of people especially 2025, like right now in culture entertaining the thought of becoming a content creator and, depending on who you talk to, some people saying it's harder to enter the scene now, other people saying there's more opportunity than ever. But at what point did you realize that you could make this a next step?
Speaker 2:that like, you could make this a next step. So I started like in 2020 during COVID, like pretty much everyone else, but at first I wasn't taking it serious. I would just like post like two, three videos every week, and like not all of them were cooking videos, like. So I just kept on doing that and for like, it took me a whole year to even hit 10,000 followers, but then when I got my first email from a partnership to do, it was a Philadelphia cream cheese.
Speaker 1:Good for you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Wanted three videos for like $2,000. And I was like, holy crap, like I could actually make money doing this. So immediately after that, like I could actually make money doing this so immediately after that, like I started taking it more serious. I started posting two videos a day, every day for like almost two years. My following like quickly started growing and that's when I started taking it serious. And like two years into doing it is when I like left my full-time job and now I've been doing it full-time for about three years now.
Speaker 1:What was your um so like that sponsorship with Philadelphia cream cheese? What platform was that TikTok?
Speaker 2:It was TikTok yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, I, I love me some time on social media. I I knew that when TikTok first entered the scene I was like I don't need something to suck more of my time, so I never got on it. But the more people I talk to, like you, I'm like dang it, I missed.
Speaker 2:I like pushed off downloading it, like everyone at work at the time, like during the early stages of COVID. It was like nonstop scrolling on TikTok. They're like you should get it. I'm like no, like I don't think I need another app, like I already do. The internet too much.
Speaker 1:And then I was just sucked in. Well, it worked for you, it paid off, man. So Cracksters is what you're known as, yes, and so talk to us about the name.
Speaker 2:So my name's Alfredo, like the sauce. Growing up my nickname was Freddy, so everyone always called me Freddy. And then sometime I don't even know how old I was I was probably like my early teens and like my cousins, they would just like screw around with me and they would call me Fredsters or just Fredster, and like I kind of hated it. So like they would do it more and more and more and then eventually it just kind of like grew on me. So when I started the whole like cooking thing I figured like it's kind of like different, it's a unique name, like it stands out a bit, so I just kind of went with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love a good nickname. I I have a food maiden name. My maiden name is shrimp, shrimp, shrimp, like the seafood. How, how do you like Alfredo? Did you get made fun of? I love it.
Speaker 2:How do you like Alfredo? Did you get made fun of? I love it. I never got made fun of it. I love the name. I felt it was kind of like meant to be because, like I love food so much and it's like Alfredo and like Alfredo sauce and everything. It's the best.
Speaker 1:My music teacher in middle school was Mr Horn. That was his last name. I was like you know, it was meant to be oh gosh, okay, well, all of this led to a book, okay. So let's, let's talk this for a second Cause I you know, I feel like there's not enough healthy expectations set with content creation and some of these opportunities. Right, people think overnight success, they think like instant, easy all that. So, actually, before we talk about the book, how long from starting the TikTok page to book deal, how long was that?
Speaker 2:I started my TikTok account probably like April or May 2020. Fun fact I had actually like started Fredsterscom initially, probably in like 2017, 2018, as like a food blog, like old school, like long story, like pictures and like the recipe at the end. But I only kept that up for like a year because I felt like it wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then COVID hit Fredsters on Instagram, TikTok and everything. I got the initial email for this cookbook. Towards the end it was like June, July of 2023. Okay, the contract was officially signed towards the end of 2023.
Speaker 1:And then pretty much all of 2024 was like working on the book man, that's relatively quick, I'm sure you know.
Speaker 2:I think like from 2023 until now, it's like about two years usually.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah. But even like start of your, your platform to book deal, like that says a lot about the content and the need for it.
Speaker 2:That's great I think so. I had had other opportunities before that, but they weren't like the opportunity where it's like a full-blown, like hardcover book.
Speaker 1:So I kept on pushing it off until the right one came along that's another really healthy reminder too, because I feel like sometimes content creators, especially when you're waiting for, like, the breakthrough or the check or whatever you're like, you can get a little desperate and it's so. You consider your cuisine right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mostly. Yeah, it's Mexican and like, but I like to do a little bit of everything and that's kind of what the book is. But I like people know me for my Mexican food yeah.
Speaker 1:So depending on where you live in the States, of course, I'm in Connecticut, so really, it's like chips and salsa is probably considered like authentic. This is like all people in Mexico eat. It's like that is not true.
Speaker 2:So Mexican food is like you just get chips and salsa at every, at mostly every Mexican restaurant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, is that so? I remember learning that, like all Italians, don't eat Italian bread at like meals in Italy, you know. So in Mexico they do eat a lot of tortilla chips, or they don't.
Speaker 2:Not really. I mean we do, but not like that, Not religiously, like for like family gatherings or like a carne asada or a party or whatever. Like you have the salsas, you have the dips and you have the tortilla chips, but not like. It's not something like oh it's 5 pm, Let me have a snack, and it's chips and salsa.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. That makes sense. Um, but to someone who's hearing this or just like wanting to expand on their like chipotle order and learn more about mexican cuisine, um, what recipes from your book or like, what flavors in like mexican cuisine do you think that they should explore?
Speaker 2:so for like someone like kind of starting um, there's like obviously like mexican food. It's like either spicy or not spicy. Most people say it should be spicy. I love spicy. So like a lot of the recipes in the book are kind of spicy, but there's like a warning at the beginning like this is how you can make it less spicy. But there's like a good mix of everything from like rice beans, how to make your own tortillas, and then like there's some traditional soups like fideo albondigas, which is like a mexican meatball and like a super brothy thing with like vegetables. It's delicious. And there's obviously like a bunch of tacos and salsas and like the salsas you can use those as like a building block for other recipes. So there's a lot of simple things in here that like pretty much the everyday home cook can attack.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. Yeah, I love all of that. And there's a Mexican restaurant that opened up near us and they are advertising this salsa flight. Have you ever seen that? Yeah, oh my gosh, so that's the first time we don't have like um, like in texas you have a lot of like tex-mex and stuff. Right, like that's pretty common. Yeah, we just don't have a lot of like options, and so that offer came to our area and everyone's like what is this? You know like amazingness, yeahness, yeah, it's so beautiful.
Speaker 2:And a lot of taquerias, like legit taquerias, like they'll have a bunch of sauces for you to try for your taco. Really, they bring it straight to your table and it's just like the. We like to mix and match a lot of them. Usually, like usually, I'll do like a salsa roja and a salsa verde and like on the same taco, or like a salsa matcha and a salsa roja together. So, um, yeah, it's like we.
Speaker 1:Just we don't like to pick just one oh, okay, that's kind of helpful for people that are wanting to, like I don't know, get a real authentic taste and actually you said that and I kind of helpful for people that are wanting to, like I don't know, get a real authentic taste. And actually you said that and I kind of did like a little hair flip. That's what I do. When I do, I do a red and a green together almost every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, totally.
Speaker 1:I was like oh, look at me, I know what I'm doing. There's that type of taco. I am 100% percent gonna butcher the name. Okay, it's spelt like b-i-r-r-i-a. Is that it? Yeah, yeah, okay, say it again. Uh-huh, that is like all the craze right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it's funny because, like I never grew up having birria like that or like a lot of, a lot of like Mexicans didn't Like the tortilla, like dipped in the juices with the cheese and like basically making a quesadilla. Like the more traditional way to have birria is like you have it like in a big old plate with like the broth and then you have like your tortillas and you're basically just like making your own taco, like without the cheese. So I think, like tiktok is what really blew up the whole. Like quesa, birria tacos that like everyone has nowadays.
Speaker 2:They're delicious, they're delicious they are it's just like the more, the more modernized way of having BVF for, like the everyday person.
Speaker 1:Here's a question for you. So I buy, just say, I pick up corn. I have to get like straight corn tortillas because I'm gluten-free, and so I get corn tortillas from the store, make them at home, heat them up in the microwave. Why do they always break?
Speaker 2:So are you just heating them up in the microwave or?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what should I be doing?
Speaker 2:You should get like a nonstick skillet or like a big griddle or something Like the way I heat them up and like we grew up, heating them up is like, if you want it to like hold up a little bit better we'll ever especially for tacos we'll spray it with like some like any spray oil and just heat it up like 30 seconds on each side and like it gets slightly crisp, but it's still pliable for like whatever it is you're gonna make with it okay, okay.
Speaker 1:I remember being in mexico and they I mean they would make the tortilla right in front of us for the meal, you know, know, and they were so soft. I was like I want that. How about those? Like, they're like bags.
Speaker 2:It's like a sleeping bag for tortillas that you put you know a little pouch and you like put them in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you put it in the microwave.
Speaker 2:Do those work. So usually you don't put them in the microwave, like usually for like cooking the tortilla, you put it in there and it creates the steam to like keep them warm and soft.
Speaker 1:Very cool. There's so many gadgets available.
Speaker 2:I'm sure people put them in the microwave. I've never done them like that, but usually it's like meant to trap in the steam in there after you cook it to keep them warm.
Speaker 1:Okay, there's so many gadgets on the market it's hard to know, like, what's worth buying and, yeah, what works, but very fun. So you developed an incredible condiment and it's so funny I've referenced this a few times on the show my husband and I are polar opposites. He eats a plain hot dog and a bun with nothing on it. Okay, nothing, and I like say it again.
Speaker 2:That's a red flag.
Speaker 1:It's very yeah. Yeah, there's some kind of special word for that kind of person, but no, he's the best. Meanwhile, my plate is like 50-50. Like my food is drowning in whatever condiment it's served with.
Speaker 2:That's how it has to be.
Speaker 1:I want every condiment on everything I eat. Yeah, so tell us about what you created. I want to hear more about it, my salsa matcha.
Speaker 2:It mainly came from being I had shared a recipe for it forever ago and like it did really good. A lot of people loved it and people always wanted to be able to like buy my product or my food, to be able to have it at home without them having to make it. And obviously I've never I've never made my own product that people could buy and it's like such a niffy thing to do with like food because like you don't want to get people sick, you don't want it to go bad or whatever. So like salsa macho is like the easiest way to do that because it's kind of it's basically the Mexican chili crisp compared to like the Asian version yeah and because it's like fried in oil, cooked in oil, and like it's oil-based.
Speaker 2:It's basically the oil is its own preservative, so it doesn't go bad as fast as like a salsa verde or salsa roja would, and it's just like the perfect, like salsa for pretty much anything I love it on, like, obviously, on my breakfast, my chilaquiles, tacos, anything like that. But it's also delicious on pastas. We've put it on pizzas. It's really good on fried chicken, but you can pretty much use it for like whatever you want to do. Add a little bit of spice to.
Speaker 1:So we were eating it the other day cause you sent us some and obviously I'm crazy about it. But my husband and I were wondering do you usually recommend that you just put the oil on, or do you try to get a scoop of all like the seasonings and stuff too with it?
Speaker 2:I do a little like I usually I'll mix it up like finely so, like everything's like well combined, and I do like a happy medium, like 50 50, because then I like I like the oil, like it's very heavily seasoned and the oil like drips onto everything else, but then you get the little crunch and spice from, like, the actual peppers that are in there. So I'm like a happy medium type of person, but i've've also, if you want to, you can like use the oil to fry up your tortillas.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You'll have to try that. Yeah, I definitely use the Asian variety, you know. So yours was like easy, like easy to fall in love with. Yeah, I loved it. And for anyone listening who's like, okay, I want to buy as I finish listening. Where do they get it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it has its own website. It's shopfretsterscom, but my regular website, fretsterscom like, links it to it. If you're on there, but it's on my website, you can get it there. Yeah, on there, but it's on my website, you can get it there. Um, yeah, and maybe at some point we'll be in like actual grocery stores like everywhere, amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really exciting. Yeah, I'm all about it. Um, I just had another question about Mexican cuisine that totally escaped me, no surprise. How about tamale? Is that like authentic, traditional, because that is one of my favorite foods in the world.
Speaker 2:Totally. I actually still have some in my freezer from Christmas time and I was just like moving stuff around, I'm like I need to take some of these out this week because I've kind of been craving them just seeing them in my freezer. But yeah, totally authentic. Usually we only make them around like Thanksgiving, christmas, like New Year's time, but here in South Texas, where I live in McAllen, there's a very big chain restaurant that like only sells tamales like year round. Wow, but yeah, it's a very, very traditional thing.
Speaker 1:So, like polenta is one of my favorite foods, tamale is one of my favorite, like anything that, like corn base, oh man.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's delicious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Oh, I've never made them. There's certain foods that I'm just like I want this to be my takeout food, so are they hard to make?
Speaker 2:It's. I wouldn't say it's hard to make. They're just very labor and like they're very time, like what's the word? I'm looking for Consuming.
Speaker 2:It's very time consuming to make them. So usually, like the way that I like to do it is I break it down by like the day before I'll make the meat filling that's going to go in it, and then I set that aside, refrigerate it, and then the next day I'll make the masa and then assemble them and cook them, and that just kind of like makes us process go a lot smoother, because then you're not making everything at once.
Speaker 1:Cool, yeah, yeah, that's, that's helpful. I got to try.
Speaker 2:Man I was joking.
Speaker 1:Say it again.
Speaker 2:You'll be glad. If you ever do make them, you'll be glad you did it. That's why we make them in big batches, because it's such a time consuming thing to do. So it's like we'll make a hundred tamales and then you just freeze them and then you're taking them out as you need them. You're not always making them because it is time consuming.
Speaker 1:I do. I mean, this is not really a surprise to anybody, but I um, I love, I love Trader Joe's man I love Trader Joe's, but their tamales are not my favorite. Have you had them? Probably not.
Speaker 2:I've never tried them and I last time I was in cause here we don't have Trader Joe's, oh wow. Last time I was in Chicago I told my brother like I kind of want to try them and like film a video trying them, just to see what they're like.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll have to try them next time I'm somewhere with a Trader Joe's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Film. Oh my gosh, I would do a tamale tasting with you. That would be so fun. But here's I'm curious whenever you do try them, if you think this, I find them way too sweet. Okay, yeah, Are yours. How would you describe your family Sweet?
Speaker 2:No, they're not sweet at all. Like obviously there is like a sweet them on, like with like raisins or pineapple or strawberries or whatever, but like they shouldn't be sweet.
Speaker 1:The first thing that hits your palate is sweetness.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, I was Colby. So funny he, he's not the foodie in the relationship, and if I eat something that I don't like for dinner, it like puts you in a bad mood, you know. And so I had the tamales from Trader Joe's. I'm like, oh, that was terrible, that's not good. I know gotten a bad mood. Never buying those again.
Speaker 2:You definitely need to try them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, okay, we're referencing the book. What about it? Are you excited? I guess most for people to experience about it.
Speaker 2:What I'm excited for. So like there's a hundred recipes in the book it's 50 that are roughly 50, that are more traditional everyday Mexican recipes, and then the other 50, they're a little bit more and I don't like to say Tex-Mex because they're not Tex-Mex, but it's like Mexican-American fusion type recipes where and you've seen the book there's like the Mexican chicken Parmesan where it's like kind of the traditional chicken Parmesan but the sauce is what makes it mexican. Like the. The big craze right now is also street corn and like doing anything street corn. So like I I love street corn, like I love a corn in a cup, um. So there's like a bunch of those recipes, like the street corn potato salad Everyone I've made it for they absolutely devour it, and there's also like a street corn ravioli. So it's like I think those recipes is what I'm most excited for people to try, because most of the Mexican recipes people have already tried for me. So this is like a little like step up.
Speaker 1:it's like it's what I'm hoping is what sets the book apart from like your everyday mexican cookbook, because it's like mexican flavors with not not so not prepared the traditional way I would say, yeah, I love the chapters too where um like carne asada, like right, and you did like the matri, like you like give the recipe for the meat right and then you get like a bunch of different ways to use it. Yeah, so helpful.
Speaker 2:I love that we did that because I I live alone but I I have the mentality that I live with like 10 other people. Yes, yeah cook a lot of food and I make big portions, just because, and what I usually do that with it's stuff that can freeze easily, like not necessarily the carne asada, but like I did that for the birria, I did that for the mole. It's like things you could easily freeze in like little deli containers or sip on baggies and just take them out of the freezer whenever you want a quick meal, and like there's those different ideas of what you can do with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so good, so, so good yeah what you can do with it. Yeah, so good. So so good. Yeah, um, so we well, I'm trying to think um other things about the book. The photography was beautiful. Oh, probably my favorite thing about the PR box that you sent over is I posted just like a very quick picture of it. It is my son's favorite book. He's 18 months old and he oh wait, I put it on the bookshelf goes over. He has all his books. He has his baby shark book, he has his Easter books.
Speaker 1:They're all there he gets your book, he opens the cover and on repeat he'll say it 50 times it's a baby, because there's all the pictures of you kind of like as a kid leading up to this part of your story and it's just so funny it's a baby.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:When I was in Chicago visiting my parents, I was going through all the pictures. I'm like I need all of these in case they may get into the book in some way shape or form. Wow, and then my editor was like we can make them the end pages. So I was like that's perfect.
Speaker 1:It tells the story. Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 2:That's kind of a secret. It's why I didn't share your post when you did it.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry, oh man.
Speaker 2:Like people don't really know. So I already shared the pictures, like I shared the actual spread, but like people don't know that it's the actual end pages of the book, so that'll be like a little surprise for like when everyone actually starts getting it.
Speaker 1:You should have yelled at me, I could, I could take it. Okay. Um, that's really special.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You guys did a good job.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you special.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys did a good job, thank you, thank you. Well, we are going to link to all of this in the show notes, the salsa, the, the book, his website, instagram, all of that, all of that good stuff. But we end each of our conversations with the same three questions and hear your answers as well. Uh, the first is something you've eaten recently and loved something I ate.
Speaker 2:Recently and you're going to love this, I was in LA doing book stuff and I went to this higher end Mexican restaurant, but it was absolutely incredible. Everything I had was delicious, and there's two things from that that really stood stood out maybe three, but one of the two were like it was a ricotta tamale with a creamed corn type of sauce, oh and it just like I dug into it and like it immediately, like melted in my mouth. It was incredible. So I think like I've been thinking about that ever since I had it.
Speaker 1:It was delicious ricotta, that's of like. That's a rare like combination right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had never seen it. So when I saw it on the menu I'm like I definitely need to try it, and I'm so glad I did.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's blending my two worlds. Yeah, there you go. Yum man, so good. Um, I've been mixing up some of these questions a little bit. Which one do I want to ask you? You know it's the beginning of spring. I'm finding a lot of things beautiful. What's something that you found to be beautiful lately?
Speaker 2:That's a hard one Because I'm like traveling all the time, so it's like different weathers for me everywhere. I think right now, like just got home from traveling and it's actually raining and it doesn't rain a lot, so just like it feels good when it rains wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a very rare perspective, but that's a good one. Usually it rains and people are like this is the worst.
Speaker 2:Here in Texas it gets so hot Like it's always like unbearably hot and like the rain just like makes it feel a little fresher.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I could stand behind that. That's fine, that's good. How about something you've discovered recently that you think everyone should know about? A netflix show, amazon purchase, anything like that?
Speaker 2:okay netflix show or anything that I discovered recently. Um, okay, I I was watching the pit on hbo max. It's um, it's a medical drama. It's new. I think they're about to air the last episode in a week or two, but basically the concept, it's like it's 15 episodes but each episode is one hour of the shift. It's like a shift. It goes very in-depth of everything that's happening to these people and it's very good. And I'm glad I'm not binging it because the episodes some of them are a little heavy with like they're very precise with like the actual like medical stuff that's going on. Wow, it's very good. It's very good. A lot of people are, and I started watching it because people kept on saying that it's really good and you need to watch it, and I'm glad I did because it's a good one, and they just renewed it for season two, so I'm excited.
Speaker 1:We're really big into shows right now and my husband loves 24. Did you watch 24?
Speaker 2:I never watched it. I need to.
Speaker 1:It's the same. It sounds similar in the way that it's like hour by hour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've heard about it. I need to watch it.
Speaker 1:So he might like this.
Speaker 2:I probably won't, he might like it.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll tell him about it. I'm so squeamish with medical. I can't do medical anything.
Speaker 2:There was one part that like it wasn't really medical, but like some homeless guy walks into the, into the emergency room, and a whole bunch of rats pop out of his jacket.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I hate rats. That's my biggest fear. So like that part was like oh, man.
Speaker 1:We joke that Wesley's going to grow up to be a surgeon, Cause both of those his poor parents are painters and like thrower uppers. Well, on that note, we are so excited for you. You said you're headed on a book tour, so people can keep an eye out for those dates. Right, they're open to the public.
Speaker 2:We'll be announcing it soon. It'll be on my website, Fredsterscom once we do, and my Instagram and everything. But we're going to like all the major cities pretty much like LA, Chicago, Seattle, everywhere in Texas, pretty much. So I'm excited.
Speaker 1:Do you know where in New York you're going to be? If you could say Not yet.
Speaker 2:That's one of the ones that's still not finalized and we're in between a couple of different locations, but hopefully we know soon.
Speaker 1:Okay, cause we're headed to see Asma. I interviewed her a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2:Do you know?
Speaker 1:Asma Khan from London. No, I'm headed to New York for her book signing, so it's pretty close. It's not far so yeah we're around, I can head there.
Speaker 2:Definitely I'll be there for a whole week, so we'll see.
Speaker 1:You can head there with. I'll head there with your little mascot, wesley Hill.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Biggest fan. Okay, guys, well, thank you so much. Thanks, okay, guys. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for being on the show. I'm glad this worked out.
Speaker 2:It was fun.
Speaker 1:Good, good, well, guys, you know the drill Share the episode if you loved it, leave a review, head on over by the book and follow Fredsters wherever you're on socials, and we will see you next week.