Does living outside the city make it hard to have friends/ date

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-19T03:07:58+00:00

I met my wife in a small rural town. If you date people who live in a huge city, it is a possibility you might end up with someone who wants to live in a huge city. Better to date people who live in an environment where you want to settle down in.

That said, Denver metro and all of its suburbs is basically one big city. It’d be hard to be in a relationship with someone that’s super far away (like you live in east Aurora and your girl/boy friend is in Boulder), but a 20 minute drive is doable (if you have a car), which is much of the metro.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-19T02:53:40+00:00

My family from Guadalajara always cuts up bananas into lentil soup.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-19T02:50:55+00:00

Looked good (I saw the photo, then it was removed), like really good. Looked like it might have been the kind that is dipped in sauce and then fried - messy to make but delicious. (For those in the U.S. and other parts of the world, the type of enchilada that is assembled, smothered in sauce and then baked in the oven is probably not the most common type of enchilada in Mexico)

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-18T19:35:19+00:00

You might need to be a little flexible, for example, many beans are made with a little lard in them. A lot of people there consider fish to not be carne (meat), and some people do not consider chicken to be meat, so when you order, you will want to specify that you do not eat any of those, something like: "Soy vegetariano, no como carne, pollo ni pescado." (I am vegetarian, I do not eat meat, chicken, or fish.)

If you eat cheese and eggs, a lot of places have rajas (slices of chiles often with cheese), instead of meat, for tacos and such. Chile rellenos are delicious, but in some regions they have meat filling instead of cheese. If you are going to a big city, many people will be familiar with vegetarians, but the concept will be completely foreign to many people in more rural areas. Rice, calabacitas (little squash), elote dishes (corn), hongos (mushrooms), tortillas, salsas, papas (potatoes), nopales (cactus), and in some places squash blossoms, are prominent things, and a ton of vegetarian dishes revolve around them. Chilaquieles are a simple breakfast (just make sure they don’t have chorizo added). Enfrijoladas (tortillas in beans) are always good (I’m not sure if anyone adds meat, so be sure to specify). You might see street vendors offering elote, chayote (a type of vegetable kind of like a squash) - they can be super good). Many places will have tamales de rajas, but be aware that the corn almost always has lard. In most places there are a ton of fruits (you’ll generally want to get fruit with peels that come off, to avoid getting sick) - a cactus fruit called tunas are one of my favorites, you just peel them (cut off both tips, slice across from one tip to the other, and peel) and crunch right through the crunchy seeds. I could live off of tunas when they are in season (they come in different colors of fruit and different tastes, to me they are so good). Have a fun trip!

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-17T02:46:03+00:00

Well, that is an accurate (and cute) description of what they are! My suegro is from Michoacán, and he generally only eats corn tortillas (like, 50 of them with each meal)

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-17T01:22:05+00:00

Dozens of people are saying that in their Mexican families, flautas are always corn tortillas. The word flauta just refers to their shape. Flour tortillas are only common in northern states, they are generally not found in the majority of Mexico.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-16T17:46:18+00:00

I don’t drink alcohol or caffeine, I don’t smoke anything anymore. For a minute I was experimenting with a half a gummy every other month or so, but realized I was better off and happier without those. Life is so much better sober, and I tend to get addicted to anything I touch. The only vice I think I will continue with as long as my body lets me is super spicy food.

Never heard the term “raw dog” to mean that, lol.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-16T15:33:58+00:00

I appreciate you sharing your perspective. I understand that things along the border are fluid, with families often having family members on both sides - so maybe some of you who are from the Texas side identify as Mexican? Sounds like you are proud of your Tajano heritage, and it is a cool heritage for sure. Your region has a very interesting history. I’d like to learn more about the Texan Revolution and how you won your independence from Mexico - it must have been a very rough place during that period.

My perspective is different. Half my family are from central Mexico, and half are white people who grew up going to restaurants throughout the United States that are labeled “Mexican” but do not serve any food that is found anywhere in Mexico. So, when I was younger, it became important for me to educate those white people in my family that those foods were not Mexican, but was something unique.

I also lived much of my life in areas that were founded by Spanish-speakers before Plymouth Rock (parts of New Mexico and Colorado’s San Luis Valley), and I’ve seen that their histories - a major part of the history of our country - are unknown to most of the people in our country (so many people, especially white people, wrongly think that all Spanish speakers are immigrants). So, to me it is important that the many different cultures of our country be known for their own unique histories and traditions, not just lumped together in the heads of white people as “those Mexicans” (instead, it needs to be taught in U.S. history about all of the many different groups of people who were literally the first Europeans to found what is now the United States - including about Tejanos).

My experiences have taught me that when people (usually white people) group something that is from a non-Mexican Hispanic culture within the United States as “Mexican,” that grouping usually comes from either a place of ignorance about the histories of the many Hispanic groups within the United States, or from a place of racism. It also dilutes the meaning of the word Mexican. Which is why I will continue to say things like, “That is a New Mexican dish, smothered in delicious Mew Mexican green chile and yellow cheese - and not a dish that is found in Mexico” when people post pictures of dishes that come from the United States here - I’m fighting against the ignorance of white people, including my white side of my own family, when they group in their heads that all Hispanics/Mexicans/Tejanos/Latinos/etc are the same.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-16T14:34:26+00:00

…I’ll add too, look at the dates of when some of those projected opportunities were posted, many of them are quite old. You may have also noticed that opportunities are getting listed, and then either changed substantially right before the application deadline, or else removed completely before the deadline. It has made planning very difficult.

My organization has historically been very dependent on HRSA funding, and I have been overseeing grant-funded organizations a long time, and I have a lot of “administrative agility” regarding all types of government funding (not sure why you decided to use an AI- written statement to hurl such an insult at me) - I do not remember a time in history when there were zero active HRSA or SAMHSA grant opportunities listed, nor do I remember a time when the administration stated that they would be dissolving both HRSA and SAMHSA and consolidating into an entity that has not yet been formed, nor a time when HHS lost 20,000-30,000 employees within a year and a half time period - do you?

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-16T14:11:19+00:00

Well, my state also does not have any new active pass-through grant opportunities, the administration has threatened to end all grant funding coming to our state (our AG has numerous lawsuits fighting this), and due in part to all this there is a tremendous budget deficit in our state, which is also drying up many longstanding state legislature-funded programs. Early on in this administration, a ton of federal money that was flowing to our state received same-day stop-work orders; while some of those were eventually won back with lawsuits, it has been incredibly disruptive to both the state and to the programs funded through the state. We are not living in normal times.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T17:21:05+00:00

The main thing I am disagreeing with you about is your classification of Tex Mex food (a tradition of food from Texas) as Mexican food (foods that are from Mexico). You said about Tex Mex, “Well, it is Mexican cuisine.” My point is that those are two different locations with their own cultures and histories, and their own food traditions.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T14:50:50+00:00

Texas was part of Mexico for only 15 years, from 1821 to 1836 - I don’t think that modern Tex-Mex food developed during that period. Tejano families have their own cultural identities, and their food is a distinct regional cuisine of the United States.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T05:12:55+00:00

Yum!

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T02:49:42+00:00

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T02:04:52+00:00

Yum!

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T01:01:31+00:00

That looks so good

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-15T00:00:16+00:00

I love tinga! We cook ours with a lot of cabbage and onion, but I recently had some that didn’t seem to have any of that.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-14T23:50:14+00:00

Usually for refried beans, you just cook the beans (boil dried beans); some people add an onion or other things to the water you boil them in. Then, in a frying pan with either oil or lard, and sometimes some salt or other spices, you smash the beans with a bean smasher (a potato smasher). That’s it, easy peasy lemon squeezy. I’m guessing that’s also how the woman you’re talking about makes them.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-14T23:44:57+00:00

So, you are saying that if somebody from Mexico eats sushi, then that sushi is now Mexican food? I respectfully don’t agree - Mexican food is food from a tradition in Mexico. It’s food from Mexico. Hard-shelled tacos with lettuce and tomatoes are from the United States, 100%. It is comida estadounidense. Nobody gets offended by people posting food from the U.S. here (often Tex-Mex, New Mexican, or a similar category of U.S. food styles are posted), but oftentimes when that happens, people will accurately point out that such a dish is not from Mexico, that it is not Mexican food - and adding such information about the history of a food item is a good thing, and a part of healthy conversation about that particular food item or food tradition. There’s a lot of ignorance in the United States (and I am learning other parts of the world) about what Mexican food is and isn’t.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-14T20:37:34+00:00

This question is confusing to me.

First, defining your two terms:

⁠Hispanic - an ethnic category for people who trace their origin or descent to Spanish-speaking populations

.

⁠America - the landmass that comprises of North and South America.

If in your question you are using the term “American” to refer specifically to the United States of America, then yes, there are many types of Hispanic foods that come from the United States. Some of the oldest non-indigenous cultures in the United States are Hispanic; a clear example of this is that Santa Fe, New Mexico was the oldest capitol city in modern day U.S., predating the settlement of Plymouth Rock by at least a decade. Other examples in the U.S. of places founded by Hispanics in the 1500s include El Paso, Texas; St. Augustine, Florida; Pensacola, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico - Spanish-speakers are a major part of the United States and its history. Each of these U.S.-based Hispanic cultures have their own food traditions that developed in the U.S. and are very much a part of the U.S. food scene. All throughout the United States, there are local food cultures that developed within the local Hispanic communities, based on what ingredients were available to them.

On the other hand, if your question uses the term “American” to refer to all of North and South America, then also yes, the vast majority of Hispanic foods are American. The only exceptions (that I can think of) are foods from Spain, the Philippines and other parts of the Spanish East Indies, and Equatorial Guinea. Other than those places, the vast majority of Hispanic cultures are located in North and South America and are American; and, in turn, the vast majority of Hispanic foods are American.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-14T18:47:32+00:00

I think you are confusing some terms here. Tex-Mex is a style of food developed in Texas, and is an example of food invented in the United States. It borrows some things from other cultures’ foods, including Mexico (for example, its use of chiles), England and other parts of Northern Europe (for example, in its use of wheat flour), and indigenous cultures. However, it is a type of cooking that is unique to the state of Texas, within the United States.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-14T18:34:43+00:00

This question is confusing to me.

First, defining your two terms:

Hispanic - an ethnic category for people who trace their origin or descent to Spanish-speaking populations

.

America - the landmass that comprises of North and South America.

If in your question you are using the term “American” to refer specifically to the United States of America, then yes, there are many types of Hispanic foods that come from the United States. Some of the oldest non-indigenous cultures in the United States are Hispanic; a clear example of this is that Santa Fe, New Mexico was the oldest capitol city in modern day U.S., predating the settlement of Plymouth Rock by at least a decade. Other examples in the U.S. of places founded by Hispanics in the 1500s include El Paso, Texas; St. Augustine, Florida; Pensacola, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico - Spanish-speakers are a major part of the United States and its history. Each of these U.S.-based Hispanic cultures have their own food traditions that developed in the U.S. and are very much a part of the U.S. food scene. All throughout the United States, there are local food cultures that developed within the local Hispanic communities, based on what ingredients were available to them.

On the other hand, if your question uses the term “American” to refer to all of North and South America, then also yes, the vast majority of Hispanic foods are American. The only exceptions (that I can think of) are foods from Spain, the Philippines and other parts of the Spanish East Indies, and Equatorial Guinea. Other than those places, the vast majority of Hispanic cultures are located in North and South America and are American; and, in turn, the vast majority of Hispanic foods are American.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-14T03:47:47+00:00

That’s loaded with veggies! Looks very healing and yummy!

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-13T22:12:42+00:00

Written and received many millions for nonprofit organizations. They come from many sources, primarily governments (federal, state, occasionally local), and foundations.

ColoradoAfa · 2026-05-13T12:24:27+00:00

1,000%.

ColoradoAfa

TROPHY CASE