Fibermania

HOT Christmas TAMALES!

Good thing I made these on Christmas Eve because we woke up to another power failure today.

This time it wasn't one of our trees that downed the power lines (thank Heavens!) and now at 8am, we have restored electricity. The windstorm last night was fierce and all went dark at 2:30 am.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming: Tamales! The steaming platter above is so aromatic, I wish we had smell-o-net. Tamale making is a family tradition, but I ended up making these alone as Brooke had to do stuff at home. We'll be bringing dinner to her house today.


I had a hard time finding masa preparada, so I had to make the dough from the powdered masa. I followed the directions mostly and then added and subtracted from there. Eventually I got the right consistency and set up the assembly line. The corn husks called ojas (OH-hass) were soaked in my washing machine, to free up the kitchen sink. I made two kinds of meat filling, pork and chicken for my b-i-l who prefers not to eat pork. Both are loaded with garlic and chili powder and look and taste the same, if you ask me.

The ojas are wrapped and folded and then stacked in the pressure cooker with a cup or two of water and steamed at pressure for 10-15 minutes. It makes a lot of racket, but is so much faster than steaming them in a regular pot (for hours!) I think I made about 60 tamales.

Then last night I was browsing through Ravelry and found this adorable neck thingy, called Kissed. I just knew it had to be made for my niece. I had time, just the right yarn and all the necessary inspiration.

Here it is in Rose pink silk merino 50/50. So buttery soft and sweet. I hope she likes it.

Merry Christmas EVERYONE...even Anonymous!

Love,

Melody

PS. The sweater dried in time to wear it for Christmas!! The fit is soooo much better.

I really gotta wash that full length mirror!