Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Tamale Making 2014

Almost immediately after my parents left I decided I absolutely had to have homemade tamales. I've made them a couple of times before and it's a LOT of work! I wish I'd decided to make them while they were still here.  

Cooking/shredding the meat and making the masa is pretty much a day's work. Spreading the masa and rolling the tamales really needs to happen on the second day if you want to walk upright to bed (vs. crawl) . That's the way it is for me, anyway. I'm sure there are plenty of people who can do it all in one day but not me. When I grew up tamale making happened at my Grandmother's (we grandkids call her "Mom") house and there were usually 6-8 people around the table working together. Fortunately, I was able to enlist Dave's help this year. I spread the masa and he filled, rolled, and tied them. Solana actually spread a few, too, but then decided she had better things to do. She did about 3, I think. Maybe next year she'll do a whole half dozen :-)



We made about 11 dozen of mostly pork and also some bean/jalapeno tamales. They came out pretty good but I think I overcooked them just a bit.


I love tamales! They're especially good with a nice big guacamole salad and maybe some refried beans with Spanish rice. Yum! 

4 comments:

The Hillbergs said...

yumm!!!!! homemade tamales?? yes please!!

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am so happy to read your blog as I have a 18 mos old daughter who is a former 1 lb 14 oz twin born at 30 weeks. It is so helpful to read about families going through the same experiences. It is comforting. My daughter also had Stage 3 ROP and now has nystagmus, and strabismus. She just had strabismus surgery this past weekend. We are hoping it is a success and that she obtains binocular function. How is Chloe doing? Does she have binocular function after the strabismus surgery? Does she still have nystagmus?

Misty

Cyndi Hendrickson said...

Hi Misty!
Wow - what an amazing coincidence that our girls have so much in common. Do you have both twins or one? I'm glad to hear that Chloe's story has helped offer you some comfort. She's doing fantastic and we're still working on the binocular function. My understanding is that it will be a loooong process to get those little eyes working together. The nuystagmus is MUCH better. It's still there but not too bad. Best wishes with your little sweetie! Do they have her patching, as well?
Best,
Cyndi

Anonymous said...

Hi Cyndi,
Yes, we have both twins. The other one was born 2 lb 12 oz and is doing perfectly well. We think her sister who was born at 1lb 14 oz probably had IUGR but we were never officially diagnosed.
Glad to hear Chloe is doing well! Sounds like we were told the same thing. Binocular vision is a possibility but will be a long time before we can tell. We used to patch her for 1 hour a day alternating each eye. The doctor said not to patch her after the surgery, but when we go back for the post op appointment in a month, I bet we will then start to patch again.