Ode To Skinny Tamales

Oh joy when I saw the FedEx box waiting for me this morning
and ripped apart the packaging, my mouth watering
in anticipation of the two dozen tamales my Mami sent me
Skinny Tamales ..... Mexican Tamales
so unlike the tamales here in California ~
with their potatoes, and onions, and beans, and vegetables
overflowing out of the banana leaf that wraps them ~
yes those are delicious ~ but they are not
Home ~
no, my Mom's Mexican Tamales ~ Texican Tamales ~
are skinny like me
and simple
(yeah like me)
only pork and spices ~ and love ~ filling the maize in 12 of them....
chicken and spices ~ and soul ~ in the other dozen.....
and their corn husks acting like leetle jackets ~ insulating their flavor, their warmth, and a memory of home ~ the annual tamalada . . .
...rich, savory memories of all the women in the house setting up the assembly-line of pots and bowls and masa and corn husks and chisme and, oye, don't forget to turn up the volume on the telenovela
to make dozens of tamales at Christmas or New Year's
or for someone's birthday, or hell, because it was Sunday...

steam 'em, nuke 'em, eat 'em cold ~ you will love these tamales...
and I ate four in a row ~ counting out how many days I might make them last......working late nights at the office ~~
and I remember studying for final exams in law school ~ and how twice a year, without fail, Mami would FedEx me tamales, sometimes including tortillas and holy water in the box, to get me through the two weeks of lonely torture ~
~ 4 a.m., trying to remember what the hell the exceptions are to the search warrant requirement, or crying as I frantically typed out the 10 pages of that Torts Take-Home Exam, rewarding myself with a tamal for every damn hearsay exception I could remember for the Evidence Final ~
~ and remembering that the most important thing to remember
is Home.

Comments

[Rox]

God, I haven't had a good tamale in eons.My tia would make them for days and days leading up to Christmas. All different kinds -- some pork (as you describe), some turkey, and green corn tamales. But, my favorite, esp at Christmas, is a sweet tamale made with pineapple, raisins and white masa.

I never thought they would travel well through the FEDEX. Now that I do, I know what I'll be asking for this Christmas.

[cindylu]

my mom calls it a "tamaleada" when she and dozen other women (sisters, nieces, me, my sister, y la abuelita) get together a few days before christmas to make a ton of tamales. i don't know if you know of the chicana artist carmen lomas garza, but she has the perfect painting to describe this get together.

[Julio Sueco]

You reckon you can redirect some of those overhere to Sweden :-D *with drooling looks at the tamale picture*

[DailyTexican]

The tamales de frijoles go like mota at a high school party in my house. The one's that have part of the "oja" wrapped around them, mean they have jalapenos and chingos of chile. Those are the one's I go for. Damn, they are good. Y me atasco la panza hasta que ya no puedo. Then I eat some more!

[oso]

Cheers for the singular tamal. This is what I always ask for in local taquerias and Mexican restaurants and almost always they say, 'you mean you want a tamale?' (which they pronounce taw-mall-eeeeeee)

'No, I want a - as in one - tamal.'

"Huh ... like, a taw-mall-eeeee?"

"Yeah, sure."