Tamale Festival

Another September means another Tamale Festival for Clean & Sober! We created the World's Largest Tamale again, this year's 2 feet longer than last years and over 1,200 pounds. This year was a little more exciting, although a lot more tiring, because I got to participate in the making of the tamale. It was fun to see how it all came together. We started with banana leaves that had to over lap over each other and the grill. Then we put down masa, which is like cornmeal, about 1 inch thick over the whole thing. Then came the meat and then more masa. Then we wrapped the whole thing up with the banana leaves and tin foil and started cooking it. It took around 4 hours to cook and then we started serving it up. Like last year, we sold out pretty quickly but this year, I managed to snag a plate. It was delicious! There ended up being a part that we couldn't sell because the health department said it didn't come up to temperature fast enough, so I ended up taking some home! Don't worry, it's completely healthy, the grills had just gone out under a small section for a little bit so the tamale cooled down a little bit before anyone noticed.

Around 4:30, we all started cleaning up the park and around 6:30, we all started leaving. I had arrived at 6:30 in the morning, so it made for quite the day but it was fun anyway. I just used the next few nights to catch up on sleep! I'll post pictures when I get them from Dana, it might be a little bit though so don't hold your breath.