Why is my Sister wearing this Hat?
I worked on the whole family photo archiving project again today. I can't remember when I started it, but it turns out scanning family photos is not a quickie weekend project. I found out from reading a Photoshop magazine that I can scan more than 1 photo at a time which is the only reason I revisited the project. Now instead of taking forever, it's only going to take half that long.

I would post a bunch on Flickr so you could chuckle along with me, except the whole monitor bad/can't color correct issue. Just enjoy Erin and her skipper hat that she is wearing for some reason at Disneyland, for my birthday, I'm guessing December, around 1980.

Yesterday we saw Elizabethtown, Cameron Crowe's new movie and we had wildly divergent opinions, and not what you'd predict. I thought it was about a half dozen brilliant scenes strung together will filler and random crap. If the protagonist had been anyone other than the adorable Orlando Bloom I would have been forced to nap between high spots. Bob thought it was brilliant and personal and reminiscent of French filmmaking blah blah blah. I think the nanosecond flash of Kirsten Dunst's panties hypnotized him.

Also yesterday, I finally made tamales and they turned out FANTASTIC. It was labor intensive but no more so than making gumbo or lasagna. I have never made them before and what I did was read about 10 recipes. Tamales are sort of like lasagna in that once you see how they're put together -- you can figure out how you want to do it.

This was my primary source. The thing with that recipe is that it makes a bazallion and I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle that my first time out. I also had zero interest in cooking pork. But I used that as my base and then used the other recipes for ideas on fillings and seasonings. The package directions on the masa said it was for about 12 tamales and this seemed more reasonable so I used this to guide making the corn part.

It was surprisingly easy but I wished I had a more experienced chef to ask questions. The corn husks were packaged in thick packets and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to unlayer them. Also they were completely round like they were pulled of the corn so I cut them open and there was ooky stuff inside which I rinsed off. Also I have leftover husks that I soaked. Can I put them in the oven and let them dry out again and then put them in a ziplock bag for next time? Common sense would suggest that this is a fire hazard but I'm doing it now and monitoring very closely.

I also made a mole which I've never done. Erin brought me some seasonings called mole dulce last year and I never knew what to do with it. You add a bunch of spices to chicken broth (which I had 3 gallons of from cooking the chicken) and then let it reduce on the stove and then stir in some chocolate at the end. I swapped out the chili powder with the mole dulce and it looked like chocolate syrup but it tasted fantastic: spicy, dark and rich.

I think tamales will go in the rotation. They are super yummy and now that I know what I'm doing I could make a big batch and freeze a bunch. Do you freeze them before or after steaming them?