"tamales" news and stories

• Want to make a scene at your holiday meal this year? Butterfly your roast.
• Fish might feel a little pricey these days, but try some in your pasta: A little goes a long way.
• These hot tamales are doubly hot -- at Tortilla y Tienda de Leon's in East Portland, the proceeds of your Christmas order support the local public schools. Now that's Christmas spirit.
• The 2008 Adelsheim Vineyard "Elizabeth's Reserve" pinot noir is a bargain at fifty bucks. No, really.

More than five dozen Mississippi hot tamales have been secreted away in the snows of northwest Alaska.

The tamales from Solly's, a Vicksburg institution, were recently shipped to musher Mike Suprenant, who plans to participate in next week's 1,150-mile Iditarod race. Since it's impossible for a team of 16 huskies to efficiently drag the 2,000 pounds of food needed to keep them and their driver fed, organizers require racers to stow their supplies at food drops, reachable only by helicopters and sleds.

Dogs typically feast on a fine-tuned chow of moose steak, lamb trimmings, chicken skin and seal oil, but mushers are free to eat whatever they choose. Jewel McCain, owner of Solly's, surmises her tamales' cayenne-driven spices and high fat content will help keep Suprenant warm.

Taking a cue from scout troops and high-school bands, a congressional candidate from El Paso is selling tamales to finance his campaign.

"The biggest problem for people who want to participate in political life is we don't have big bank accounts," explains Jaime O. Perez, who's challenging incumbent Silvestre Reyes in the upcoming Republican primary. "My sister said if I wanted, she could make tamales for me. I thought 'Oh, that's nice of her to offer,' but the more I thought about it, I decided it was a really good idea."

Now thoroughly sold on the grassroots fundraising strategy, he adds, "It will be the staple of the campaign."

Perez is selling red pork, vegetable, chicken and green chile tamales for $11.99 a dozen. While he concedes he can't possibly sell enough $1 tamales to underwrite the entire cost of a congressional campaign – winning House candidates in 2008 spent, on average, $1.1 million apiece – he figures 10,000 tamales could help buy the yard signs, leaflets and lapel stickers he needs.

Let's not kid ourselves -- holidays have always been about the food. Hannukah has latkes. Thanksgiving has turkey. Independence Day has barbecue. Christmas is no exception, especially in Latin America. In Mexico and parts of the United States, Christmas is preceded by Las Posadas, a nine-day marathon of singing and eating. It begins Wednesday and lasts until Dec. 24.

The phrase "Las Posadas" translates to "the inns." It refers to the attempts of Mary and Joseph to find room at an inn for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Each night, celebrants and musicians gather for candlelight processions, led by children dressed as the Holy Family and the Three Wise Men, and travel from home to home singing and requesting permission to enter until welcomed by an "innkeeper." At last, the food!

Among the essential dishes of holiday parties are ponche (punch), antojitos (snacks or appetizers), colaciones (light foods like sugar balls), pozole (hominy, pork and chile stew) and, of course, tamales, the ever-present Mexican holiday food. Ultimately, the foods and recipes are regionally dependent, as much of Mexican cuisine is. Zarela Martinez, matriarch of Mexican restaurants in New York and owner of Zarela, likes to serve pozole during Las Posadas. "It is easy to do and everyone loves it."

As 2009 comes to close, so do this year's food festivals. Here is a selection the end-of-the-year picks, a couple of which involve the warm caress of alcohol, as often required to survive Jack Frost's lengthy stay.

Annual Holiday Ale Festival, Portland, Ore., Dec. 2-6: This sudsy soiree bills itself as the premiere winter-beer tasting event. With more than 50 craft quaffers, such as Bear Republic Brewing Company Barrel-Aged Old Baba Yaga, Hopworks Urban Brewery Kronan the Barbarian and Alameda Brewhouse Papa Noel's Special Reserve, we're inclined to believe it. On Dec. 6, don't forget to attend the sixth annual Beer and Brunch Event. Among the menu items will be Belgian-style favorite La Fin du Monde and cheeses galore from the Willamette Valley Cheese Co.

Indio International Tamale Festival, Indio, Calif., Dec. 5-6: This celebration of a quintessential Mexican food, started in 1992, will offer customary festival attractions, carnival rides and a parade. But what's not to love about a plethora of Mariachi bands and a tamale-eating contest?