Tamales, The Sequel

Oh, I'm so full . . . and so tired!

My gal pals came over today and we had a blast making tamales, exchanging little Christmas gifts, chatting, and laughing. Oh, and eating, of course! Can't forget that part!

And can you believe I didn't take any photos? Seriously! I was so busy demonstrating and then keeping everyone supplied with tamale dough and steaming the tamales that not only didn't I take any photos, but I only make three tamales myself and I ATE one of those when the first batch came out of the steamer!

Luckily Gran was one of the invitees, and she took enough photos to fully and completely document the day. Here's one of my favorites:

One of our friends brought the fixings for Mexican hot chocolate and made us a couple batches. That's what you see here. Yum!

Here are a couple "tamale photos" for your viewing pleasure. First up is a shot of the table at the beginning of the day with many of the things we'd need to make the tamales. Everyone brought their own prepared filling--that's my pork filling sitting on the table in a big plastic bag, and Gran's beef filling is in the pot to the right.

One of the several batches of tamale dough I whipped up:

And, finally, evidence of our handy work. This was just the first batch, or maybe it was the second batch, to come out of the steamer. (The black marks are the maker's initials so we could divide them back up after steaming.)

This year I broke down and bought a REAL tamale steamer pot--up until now, I'd just rigged up something that would do okay, but after making tamales for something close to 15 years, I figured it's something I'll probably keep on doing, so investing a small amount in a steamer made sense--and it sure came in handy today because I could steam a TON all at once. Of course Hubby's grumbling about where to store the darn pot the rest of the year, and I'm sure the only thing keeping him from suggesting "hoarding" again is the sure knowledge that if he does, homemade tamale goodness will never cross his lips again in this lifetime.

Tomorrow my kids, their significant others, Hubby, and I are getting togther to decorate gingerbread houses, watch football, and eat soup. Needless to say, the LOOOOOOOOONG table remains set up in the kitchen one more day. And I'll try to get some photos this time!

Oh, and if you're feeling at all sorry for me and my lame three tamale count? I spent the evening making tamales (while watching TV) and ended up with a couple dozen. Yum!