Hannah and Nathanael were pretty excited about the tamales. Little did they think about the inexperience of the cook - me. Yes, I attempted my first tamales ever yesterday - sweet tamales, to be exact.

There have been a lot of new experiences around here lately, more than just tamales. For one thing, Nathanael has discovered how easy it is to climb out of his crib - leading us to think about an emergency switch from crib to bed. Except … well, we don’t have a bed. Not for Nathanael. We’re raising money to buy him one in Mexico. In the mean time, it may be a mattress on the floor for our little crackerjack. As we sell our furniture and pack up our belongings, each of us will be experiencing more and more transitional experiences like this.

Tamales are steamed, and I don’t have a steamer. So they took a little improvising too - bits and pieces of this and that and *presto* - a small but functional steamer. The corn husks had been soaked, the batter made, and it was time for assembly.

Hannah helped me put in some raisins as we folded the tamales into the husks and tied them. They were put into the steamer, and they filled the kitchen with that Mexican smell while I worked on lunch.

There are lots of things to think about while you make lunch. If you can concentrate with the kids in the background. They’re doing well, but all this busy-ness and change is a challenge for them too. There’s been a lot of talk around here about Hannah’s schooling this fall in Mexico - how will it work? How do we prepare? What’s available? How will we pay for it? How far in advance should we plan?

Anyway, you’ll be glad to hear that in the end the tamales were a stunning success. Everyone enjoyed them, and I have plans for another batch. We were hoping they would be a celebration of Mexico’s win against Angola in the World Cup - a win that ended up being a tie. Ah well.

Tamales are not a lot of work if you know what you’re doing. Which I didn’t. But I know a lot more now. I found a recipe on the internet which I adapted a little - you can try it yourself - they’re sweet tamales with pineapple and raisins. Or you could invite yourself over to try mine. But remember - I’m still only a novice. Better to visit Mexico yourself. Hey, we should do that…

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