never had i ever made tamales

8:00 pm - arrive at garth + lindsey's for tamale tuesday

8:15 pm - start the process

soaked the cornhusks for a few minutes

for our chicken filling, sauteed garlic, serrano peppers and tomatillos

mashed it down once the tomatillos were tender enough

cooked for about 30 minutes until it thickened

then added the shredded chicken

mushroom filling mixture

9:15 pm - time to make masa

9:30 pm - assemble

palm full of masa goes on each corn husk

add your filling

tie one end of the tamale closed with strips of corn husk

busy worker bees

steam in a double boiler-like setup with a colander top

when the husk peels away from the inside without sticking, it's done! about 20+ minutes

hot tamale! i advise not using bare hands. to each his own. 

we also made sweet tamales! coconut, raisins and pineapple. uh-mazing. 

11:15 pm - eat!

1:00 am - pass out from over consumption

7:00 am - wake up, finding yourself neked and covered in corn husks