Yesterday I pulled into the Mammoth Lakes post office parking lot. I had the Mexican Hat Dance playing through the radio.
David K's and Baja Bernie's stickers, amidst others, adorn the back of my vehicle.
I was wearing a shirt from Acapulco, which stated such in loud letters.
A Hispanic guy smiles at me, I smile back without thinking anything of it. Mammoth is a friendly town, and he looked familiar.
After picking up my bills and not the expected tax return (darn!), I go back outside. This time the gentleman approaches me.
"Hola." ... Are you interested in buying tamales? (I'd write that in Spanish but I can't.)
It's about 25 degrees out, and less with the wind chill factor. I glance past him at the snow covered ground, and for an instant, am transported to a
hot sunny Mexico.
"Soy vegetariana," I say in my terrible Spanish.
He understands and replies, "queso."
My heart beat speeds up. I'm thinking this is too good to be true!
I buy a dozen jalapeno and cheese tamales for a measly price of $13 USD. An incredible bargain so far from the border!
They are hot and steamy. I was gonna treat myself to Taco Bell in Bishop, 45 minutes south. But who cares about the dog when you can eat a hot tasty
tamale?
(I know Taco Bell is not a treat to most of you. But when you live in a small town and the only fast food is McD's, KFried, and CJr's, you get real
sick of their fare. And you get tired of the restaurants that have the same menu's since the 70's.)
It was a gift from the Mayan God I tell my daughter as we drive south, munching on one of the best tamales I've ever eaten in my very young lifetime.
Now, this may seem like not much of a big deal to you flatlanders in southern Cali, but to us mountain folk it was a pure, unadulterated pleasure.
I can tell you I will be visiting my post office with a whole new attitude....bills don't matter as much as watching for those homemade tamales! OLE!Bajagypsy - 3-29-2007 at 09:46 AM
If everytime I went to my mail box and got offered tamales, I to would not mind paying the bills!Lindalou - 3-29-2007 at 02:36 PM
Oh boy, oh boy, we haven't had a really good tamale since the beach of Santispac, when the tamale lady would come around every 3 or 4 days. Rich
would get a dozen of these warm wonderful things and we would cover them in our green salsa and eat them for breakfast! Yum-O!Iflyfish - 3-29-2007 at 04:44 PM
There is a Mexican Goddess and she smiled on you amigo!
Your great Mexican vibes channeled Tomales! Good one.
Spiritual man, spiritual!
Iflyfishwhennotlookingforhumminbirdstotalkwithvgabndo - 3-29-2007 at 09:01 PM
Jeez Rock, you make me real happy with our little town of 4500 mountain folks. We have so many good Mexican restaurants that we can afford to by-pass
the crummy one.
My favorite is still our classic Jewish taco shop. "Pancho and Lefkowitz (a local joint)" Tacos, burritos, and kosher hot dogs all served out of the
same roadside trailer. Oye Lay!Paulina - 3-29-2007 at 09:17 PM
What a special treat!marla - 4-3-2007 at 04:01 PM
So Georock, let's see a picture of your grandbaby!
just had my first Camelita's tamales last week
BajaVida - 4-5-2007 at 11:45 AM
they were sure tastyDavid K - 4-5-2007 at 04:50 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by BajaVida
they were sure tasty
How about some photos from you or bajarunner?BirdDog - 4-5-2007 at 06:50 PM
Wow man. work at the p.o. in Iowa and no ever has made me hot tamales. Would a nice treat. I guess some good things do happen at the post office.
Although not many.BirdDog - 4-5-2007 at 06:51 PM
Obviously typing is not required to work here.Cypress - 4-6-2007 at 02:16 PM
Homemade tamales are a special treat!
no fotos of Carmelita, sorry
thebajarunner - 4-6-2007 at 02:28 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Quote:
Originally posted by BajaVida
they were sure tasty
How about some photos from you or bajarunner?
Whilst they were milling about in the parking lot chomping the tamales I was trying to get a decent foto of an osprey that was circling above, then
nesting across the street.
No success, thus no fotos of the tamale place either.
What was interesting.... there were about four small dogs hanging around outside, and as 11 guys munced on very sloppy tamales, the dogs were
scurrying underfoot, picking up the pieces that dropped.
