Gentle Friends, since I've been off the grid so to speak for the last two weeks I thought I'd fill in some of our Holiday with a few snaperoos.....
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Let's start off the Friday before Christmas... we headed downtown to see The Nutcracker...
... I had gotten our tickets months ago, and since it was the 75th Anniversary year I knew they would be selling out the prime nights fast!!
Our SF City Hall was all aglow for the season...
... the Ballet shares the space in the Opera House...
...with its lovely ceiling and the lobby all decorated...
... there was a shop with all sorts of fun stuff ...
... I made sure we had better seats than last year...
... this is the trailer they released so you can get a taste of how really lovely this performance was...
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Then starting on Sunday I began my tamales adventure. I've already posted a snap of the carnitas/pork cooking.... then on Monday, I made the chili sauce...
... you have to clean the dried chilies... pop the stems off and clean out the seeds and veins
....and then cook them down a bit... then you take them and grind them for a while in the processor...
.... you take the processed chilies and strain out any bits that didn't pulverize so that...
... you end up with a smooth delicious chili sauce to add to your cooked meat.
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So, Monday evening I took the dried corn husks and pour some hot water over them to sit in overnight...they have to be weighed down so they stay covered with the water... you can see two pounds of sausage I turned into Pinwheels for Christmas morning and some bacon I turned into some hors-d'oeuvre before Christmas Dinner...
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Then Tuesday morning I started in making the masa... I whipped my lard for about 15 minutes to get it nice and fluffy
... then added the tamale flour, pork stock I had saved, some of the chili sauce and then just let this beat scraping down the bowl every now and then for about 20+ minutes.... when I thought it had gotten to the right consistency I did the test...
... the test was to take a little bit and drop into cold water to see if it floated, and first time out I hit it and my little blob floated!!
... then it was on to making the tamales. I made a 100 or so and it took a little more than an hour to do. I also steamed them Christmas eve to have one less thing to do Christmas Day. Tamales reheat well!!
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I made a key Lime Pound Cake for the Baby Jesus' Birthday cake this year.
... we ended up doing a buffet type of dinner for everyone that came over... Rico made Spanish Rice, beans and some guacamole and chips. We also had a green salad to round things out. It was a very different Christmas Dinner than I've ever had or made, but we all enjoyed it and it was a real learning experience!!
....... and here's the cake all cut up after dinner we served with really delicious pink champagne a friend brought over. It's from Korbel and is only available at the winery, it was a superb ending to our tasty meal!!
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That's about it for today sports fans thanks for stopping by do stop again!!
Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!
edgar
That's a hot tamale!! Which meant a firecracker female in my day!!
ReplyDeleteIt all looks wonderful! Happy New Year Edgar!
ReplyDeleteLancy
Dearest Edgar: You have been busy in the kitchen, the food looks yummy, what a process on the chili's, it all looks lovely sitting on the table.
ReplyDeleteI love the Nutcracker, the music is something I listen to every Christmas.
Thank-you for sharing the beautiful indoor and outdoor photos, they are lovely, the Ballerinas in the gift shop are beautiful.
Happy New Year
Catherine
These photos are enough to put me into the Christmas mode all over again! And the tamales! Oh, they look so good. I shouldn't be looking at this when I'm hungry. The added fun touch was the Waffle House mug! One of my favorite places! Happy New Year, Edgar!
ReplyDeleteI watched the trailer and it looked absolutely wonderful. x
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your Christmas was lovely! SF looked so festive and the building where the ballet was held is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea what was involved in making tamales. I have never heard of whipping the lard.
ReplyDeleteTamales are a big deal around here and I've had numerous people offer to teach me how to make them over the years. I had no idea what an involved process it is! That ceiling in the Opera House is gorgeous. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a fabulous Christmas spread and that production of The Nutcracker looks so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOh everything looked fabulous! What kind of cake did you make? It looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! We also saw the Nutcracker performed by NYCBallet this year, which we have done a few years. I would LOVE to see the SF rendition! (I'm plotting to see the Boston Ballet's next year.) How grand the opera house is! NYCB's home theatre is also very grand, in its 60s-sparse mod way, but I like an older "fit and finish"!
ReplyDeleteHow great the meal looks! It came to pass that we went out for XMas eve for Mexican/Tex Mexfoid, and I think I need to make it a tradition! As a child growing up the star of the eve buffet was a uncle's chili con carne, so I think it just "feels right"!