Tamales

I have lived in Othello almost my whole life. I know it is a little depressing but there are perks. Last summer when we were living in the apartments on Ash street I would walk out side and smell food cooking such as fresh tortillas, caldo, mexican rice, and carne asada. I had finally had enough! I wanted some too... not just some but enough to last a life time. I am a huge mexican food fan! So, I went to my neighbors house and asked her if next time she cooked something, anything, if I could come and watch. She agreed. Soon I was making Mexican rice, carne asada, tortillas, and arroz con pollo. It was great, but I really wanted to learn to make tamales. Well...we moved before I got the chance to learn. When we moved to these apartments I was kind of sad. We new everyone in the other apts. and everyone here seemed to look at us as the crazy white people (Othello is about 90% hispanic). but soon enough some of the neighbor kids started coming over and now we can't get rid of them. Our neighbors are really nice. Maria (the mom) dosen't know english but she would always feed our kids anything they were eating if they were over there. One day Kimberly (one of the kids) asked me if I wanted any tamales. I said YES!! I love them!! I asked them if they would ask their mom if she would teach me how to make them. Maria said that she would teach me. So we spent 6 hours making tamales. we made chicken, beef, pork, and cheese.She makes everything from scratch, including the broth and all the sauces! They were alot of work, but sooo worth it. Maria would tell me what to do in spanish then her daughter Karen would translate. It was fun. I loved that she was willing to teach me and talk to me even though we speak different languages. She is a neat lady and they have an awesome family. I asked her if there was anything that I could teach them to make. She said that she wanted to make Oatmeal rasin cookies. random but whatever. So I did and they have made them almost everyday since. I am glad I had something I could offer. I also helped them with there Thanksgiving dinner. I helped them make there first homemade pumpkin pie. and showed them how to bake the turkey and make gravy and stuffing. We are truly blessed to know them. ( I know the picture of the tamales dosen't look very good, but trust me they are great!)