Packing and Moving--Short Blogs This Weekend (Love My Friends!)

All of you are wonderful friends!

Today, my hands are sore from mixing tamale dough.  My guests and I had such a great time making tamales together!  However, I mixed both batches, and I am paying for it now.

I was so glad to be able to use the lard correctly (thank you YouTube chefs), and my green tamales were pretty tasty.  It was my first time making the sauce; good thing I had my mom as a lifeline on the phone.  What was amazing is that three pots later, we had a small amount left, but folks did take half a dozen or so home.

Apparently, I am supposed to continue this tradition, according to my author friend Laura Garcia because she has stopped doing the annual Christmas tamale parties.  I guess she stopped in 2008.  To emphasize her point, she gave me an enormous tamale pot that makes mine look like an adolescent pot.  Ha ha ha.  It is a gorgeous silver pot and could easily fit four dozen or more, depending on what leaves we use.  (I prefer plantain.)

Anyway, I was glad to have a type of farewell party with all my wonderful friends.  (If you couldn't make it this time or missed the event or weren't invited this round, we are having a housewarming party and Mass in our new home next year.)  Now, we are off to pack the middle room and really donate things we don't need.  My beloved husband still thinks we can move by this Wednesday.  We will see.

Today, celebrate all of your victories, especially the unexpected ones.