Oma's Christmas Magic

The past couple weeks, and especially these last few days, I've been excitedly anticipating Christmas . . . with a pinch of sadness thrown in. See, it seemed like that usual gleam of magic the Advent and Christmas seasons bring was slightly tarnished without Oma's presence.

I'd hear a Christmas song on the radio, whether it was one of Oma's favorites, or perhaps an arrangement she would've loved . . . and I'd start missing her. And then I'd start thinking that Christmas just isn't the same without one's grandmother, especially since grandmothers seem to possess a bit of a magical aura about them by their very nature - mix that with the Christmas season (Santa, winter wonderlands, presents, hot cocoa, cookies . . . ), and, well . . . it just hasn't quite felt right this year.

But then the other night, it struck me. My grandfather's voice. (He passed away in 2008). It was as though he were telling me, "Just look around. Your grandmother's magic is there. Just look."

And what did I see?

(I've posted a similar pic of these lights before, in case you remember them.)

 Liv and I were driving into our neighborhood one evening after her violin lesson. And we drove past some of our favorite holiday lights.

Every time we pass these lights, Liv and I always exclaim, "The cactus, palm tree and 'bus'!!" The family that lives here usually puts up these lights yearly. One year they didn't, and we were SO disappointed! I always say that I love the cactus lights because it reminds me of the Southwest. Liv loves the palm tree and the "bus." It's actually an RV (but we call it a bus, LOL), and the lights around the two wheels move, so it looks like the wheels are turning.


Well, I thought to myself, Okay, so there's magic around. Momentarily smiling, but still not quite feeling it.

I guess I needed another reminder.

Here are Liv and Jock, during Jock's first time playing in the "deep" snow (he's a Corgi pup, so it's deep to him).


That helped, but again, it didn't last more than that afternoon.I guess I needed a little more help.

Okay, so how about Liv's colorful hat with the two pom poms?

Or the park at the center of our town? See the Christmas tree on the right? Or the lights on the trees on the left? It's pretty magical. Especially since they have a whole festival the first Saturday in December every year. They have carriage rides, hot cocoa, musicians playing Christmas carols, popcorn, a reindeer . . . 

And one of our favorite pizza places, Zoey's. Yep, that's a boat up there on the wall. It's always there, but just decorated according to the season (it usually has spider webs, fake bats, and a fake skeleton in October).  Now they've got great lights, stockings, a lit wreath, and a lit Christmas tree.


And tonight, Santa is on his way. While we wait, we had Christmas Eve dinner, just like we would've had in New Mexico - tamales (!!) along with tracking Santa's progress via NORAD's Santa tracker.

I'll sign off with a "Merry Christmas!" to you all, and one of those songs I heard on satellite radio that I'm sure Oma would've loved.

I heard this on satellite radio recently. It's called "Santanooga Choo Choo," performed by the Airmen of Note, one of the US Air Force's jazz bands. Oma absolutely adored listening to Glenn Miller's music (and music like his). So when I'd heard this specific song, especially since it was performed by an Air Force band, as I'm an Air Force veteran . . . well, I knew it must've been Oma's way of telling me to get in the Christmas mood! 

A Few of my Favorite Things for This Time of Year

1. The smell of sweet treats baking in the oven
2. Eating sweet treats
3. Glistening snow - the way it looks like it's encrusted with bling:

Not the best photo (it was taken from behind a closed window in my family room) - if you click on it, I think the sparkles show up better. 

4. The way the snow crunches underneath my feet as I walk on it

5. Cool Cold weather, and bundling up in warm, cozy clothing (sweaters or sweatshirts, scarves, mittens, etc), and not having to complain about hot, humid, sticky, sweaty weather

6. Going outside in the cold, and being able to come back inside for some hot chocolate

7. Christmas decorations:

8. The Southwest at this time of year:

Postcard entitled "Farolitos at Twilight." Photo © 1996 Bill Bonebrake

9. New Mexican posole

10. Tamales

11. Candy canes, peppermint ice cream, and peppermint-flavored cocktails

12. The smell of wood-burning fireplaces (especially when they burn apple wood or some other good-smelling wood)

And yes, now I'm feeling saudade for the Southwest . . .

Memory Lane Friday - A Favorite Holiday Food

This week's Memory Lane Friday theme is "A Favorite Holiday Food."

You know how many holiday foods there are to enjoy? Cookies, cakes, breads, candies, beverages (peppermint hot chocolate, etc) . . .  Mmmm.

Like my grandmother's stuffing. Yum-o! I thought I had the recipe, but I can't find it (I know I've made it, though). My mom still makes this stuffing for Thanksgiving every year.

But while I love my Oma's stuffing, that's not the favorite holiday food I want to talk about.

My favorite holiday food, I think, MUST be tamales - the savory kind.

Tamales are usually made this time of year; therefore, they're a popular, traditional food around the holidays.

They are something you'd usually make in a large group - like if you had family visiting, then you'd have a lot of helping hands. Why? The making of tamales is a very time consuming process. You've got to make the "dough," which is made of masa - a corn meal, then stuffed with seasoned pork or other meat, wrapped in corn husks, and steamed until cooked.

Once ready to eat, you take the corn husk off, then gobble them up.

There are sweet dessert tamales, too, where you'd replace the savory stuffing with something sweet like apples and cinnamon or a caramel filling or something like that. I've had the sweet variety, and while tasty, I prefer savory. 

When I was pregnant with Livie, I absolutely craved tamales. I would've done just about anything to get some tamales. We were in the Boston area at the time, and I had no idea where to get tamales.

Fortunately, I had an acquaintance tell me of a Mexican restaurant in Cambridge (home of the famous Harvard University), and this restaurant (Forest Cafe on Mass Ave) had delicious tamales.

Andrew and I went off, in the middle of December in Boston, to get tamales at this restaurant. They absolutely hit the spot.

So you now know that I love tamales enough to have craved them while pregnant.

The next December, we were in New Mexico. And guess what? We were fortunate enough to have a neighbor bring a whole basket of tamales as a Christmas gift for us - and she included three types! Pork, beef, and sweet. It was awesome not only because I love tamales, but because she and her family made the tamales themselves!

I wanted to gobble them up, but at the same time, I wanted to stick them in the freezer, so I'd have them for a long time.

Andrew and I ended up eating the savory ones all through the remainder of December, and freezing all but a couple of the sweet ones. They didn't last too long, though, since they were so tasty. I think we ended up finishing the sweet ones I'd frozen sometime in mid-January.

Last year, after we'd been here in Iowa for a while, we were again fortunate enough for an acquaintance bring some homemade tamales for us to eat over the holidays! They were delicious!! I'm hoping she will have enough to share again this year!!

Here's a photo of some tamales (in their corn husks) being steamed:

Photo from Wikipedia.com

My mouth is watering and my tummy is growling, just thinking of tamales!

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read her post, as well as this week's other entries.

Please come back next week when the theme is "A Favorite Holiday Movie."

Memory Lane Friday - The Foods I Loved

Today's Memory Lane Friday topic is "The Foods I Loved" and you know I'm going to have to talk about my Oma and her cooking. Her cooking is what I always consider "comfort food." Her food is what I always crave when I want something good. If I need Mexican food, hers is what satisfies the craving. As a matter of fact, Oma's cooking is what I craved when I was pregnant with Liv. Oma's cooking and tamales.

Oma has always had this amazing cooking. It was always homemade. It didn't matter if it was breakfast or dinner. 

But since breakfast is the first meal of the day, I will begin with a typical Oma breakfast. I am salivating, just thinking about it. She used to make huevos con chorizo for us sometimes - once a week, or sometimes even twice a week. Or more, if we asked her for it.

She had these great flour tortillas that she'd warm up on this round cast-iron thing on top of the gas burner. You could smell the flour tortillas warming up, with a warm, cozy, bready, flour-y scent wafting through the air. And the chorizo? It was the Mexican type, not the Spanish or Portuguese type (which was more of a hard salami type of sausage). The chorizo she used would come out of the casing before being cooked, and as it browned, would crumble like ground beef. It was the Peyton brand chorizo that apparently is only available in West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and a handful of military commissaries (which included Hanscom Air Force Base, where Andrew and I were stationed for 4 years).

And then you'd hear the sssssss of the chorizo links as they sizzled and browned in the skillet. This is when it started smelling divine. Mmmmm. Spicy (like cumin, not burn-your-mouth-with-chiles spicy), sausage-like, and mouth-watering.

While the chorizo was browning, you'd hear the tsk-tsk-tsk of Oma's fork as she whisked the eggs in a bowl. As soon as the chorizo was browned just right, she'd pour the whisked eggs into the skillet over the chorizo and begin to scramble them all together.

And then it was all ready. A heap of huevos con chorizo on your plate, flour tortilla folded in half on the side of the plate. Fork in hand, I remember scooping the huevos con chorizo into the unfolded, warmed flour tortilla, rolling it up into a burrito, and then taking a bite. Mmmmm. It was eggy, full-flavored (because of the chorizo), and full of carbs (the tortilla) to balance out the protein (and fat) from the eggs and chorizo.

This was pure breakfast heaven. And now I'm very hungry.

When I lived in Tucson and New Mexico (and when I realized I could get the same chorizo at the commissary in the Boston area),  I'd make huevos con chorizo, too. Sure, I watched her make this dish, and it tasted basically the same, but hers was always better. I think it's because, as she always says, she "made it with a lot of love."

Then there was lunch or dinner. She used to make cheese enchiladas on occasion, and while I loved her red sauce for its rich flavor and thought that her enchiladas were tasty, I found that they were a little heavy on the chopped onion (which she always kind of rough chopped - the onions were never really chopped finely enough) and I'd get heartburn. It was weird. I could always handle spicy food, but too much onion? My stomach and esophagus couldn't handle it.

My favorite lunch or dinner menu in Oma's repertoire? Homemade tacos and homemade beans. She told me step by step how to make her tacos, and while I tried to make them on occasion, they NEVER came out right. I'm not sure I had the technique just right.

Oma would brown ground beef, season them just right (salt, pepper, cumin), saute them with diced potatoes, and then stuff the mixture into corn tortillas (fried briefly in oil and then folded while still warm and malleable). At least, this is what I remember.

After assembling a bunch of tacos and setting them on a cookie sheet lined with foil, she'd stick them in the oven for a little while to make sure they were all warmed and hot enough to eat.

And the beans? Mmmm.

Making her world-famous beans was a process. Not hard - just time-consuming. She'd soak pinto beans overnight. The next day, she'd cook them in water seasoned with garlic salt and onion powder. When they were soft, she'd drain some water, saving some so that when she mashed the beans, they wouldn't get dried out. Then she'd brown some chorizo in a big skillet. When it was browned, she'd add the mashed beans and cook them all together so the flavors would blend. And then she'd add shredded Monterrey Jack cheese on the top.

Two or three tacos topped with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and a side of her world-famous beans. Oh, and her delicious rice. I have now idea how to make that. Note to self: get her rice recipe from her next time I see her.

So there it is. There are the the foods I loved growing up . . . and the foods I still love. And now I am hungry.

Okay, so I don't have any photos of my Oma while she's actually cooking something. But I have a number of photos of her, so I'm going to add a few here:
 

This photo was taken way before my time, but here's my Oma when she was a young woman.

Here's Oma at the Blue Ridge Circle house. This must've been in the early '70s - maybe '73?

My Uncle H. used to say this was Oma's "Ann Landers hairstyle." By the way, I don't know why/how the couch turned out that funky maroon color in the photo (it was actually an olive green), and how Oma's dress turned into such a vibrant purple. Ah, well. At least it's a great photo of her smiling.

So here I am with my Oma and Sir Rafa. We're not in El Paso, but we're together. I believe they were visiting us when we lived in Wilmette, IL.

Here's Oma and baby Livie in Oma's kitchen. This is in the beloved Mountain Walk Drive home in El Paso.

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After checking out today's other entries, be sure to come back next week when the Memory Lane Friday topic is "A Ceremony."

Chicken Posole Recipe - Real Simple Recipes

Chicken Posole Recipe | Real Simple Recipes

I just got this "Chicken Posole" recipe sent to my e-mail. I'm going to have to try it one day.

In New Mexico, posole is a stew that is traditionally eaten around Christmas. Oftentimes, it's made with pork. But this chicken recipe looks tasty and worthy of being tried. Hopefully the family will like it, too. Of course, it will probably make me feel saudade for New Mexico, but oh well. If the recipe ends up being yummy, it will be worth feeling a little saudade for it.

Now I'm craving Mexican food, especially tamales. Here's why: typically, tamales are also prepared and eaten around Christmas in Mexican culture, as well as in the Southwest (and probably other parts of the country). So, thinking of posole made me think of traditional Christmas food, and that, of course, made me think of tamales. Mmmmm . . .