Morning everyone!  Wow, school starts in two days.  Where did the break go?  Oh well, the sooner I get back to school, the sooner summer will come (and summer means more cooking! :)


I promised I'd tell you about our New Year's feast and so, behold, tamales!

Homemade tamales, that is.  Before the little bundle of goodness was unwrapped:

Have you ever heard that tamales take all day to make?  If so, it isn't a myth, at least not much of one.  Maybe they didn't take all day, but they did take a good four to five hours!  I made the wild mushroom tamales with tomatillo-chipotle sauce (the best sauce/dip ever - aside from hummus and pesto and...... well you get the point - I love a lot of dips :) .  The recipes came from my Mom's Tamales! book by Mark Miller, Stephan Pyles, and John Sedlar.  The tamales came out moist, tender and delicious - just like a tamale should be!
If you want to see some tamale assembly pictures, you're in luck!  (If you don't want to see them, you're going to see them anyway ;)  I have to warn you, though.  The following pictures were taken last time we made tamales (over a year ago), and while my picture taking isn't perfect now, it has definitely improved since the last tamale-making experience. In other words, proceed at you own risk..... dun, dun, dunnnnn............
The masa dough all spread out on the corn husk:

(So glad I rarely use the flash anymore!)
The filling spread down the middle:

All covered up: 

Wrapped and ready to be steamed (by the way, we steamed way more than one; I just thought that the little tamale looked cute sitting in the steamer all by himself :)

Tamales: very time consuming but completely worth it in the end! (You must remember that last part or you might get so frustrated that you might not make it to the end.  That almost happened this last time, but - positive thinking - it always helps!)


The daily question: Have you ever embarked on the journey of tamale making?
I've done that journey twice.  Like I said before, it's definitely a journey, but your taste buds will thank you! :)