Day 7

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Today is Father's Day!!!

Robert started the day by mowing the yard while Melinda, Ally, Abby, and I headed over to moms house to help make tamales.  I explained tamales to Melinda and she was very excited to help make them.  I told her that making them is a family tradition that began with my mother and grandmother.  Ally and Abby are slowly helping more and more each year and I hope to continue the tradition with them for many more years.  Melinda took lots of pictures of the process, but here are a few that I took.

Boiling a chicken for a few chicken tamales, a small pot filled with caldo,
juice from the boiled meat, to help season the meat, and the pork/beef
mixture for the meat tamales

Momma Nina teaching Melinda how to spread the masa,
corn meal dough, onto the hoja, corn husk.

Dad, Ally, and Abby helping with the tamales.

The best part about making tamales is all the time spent around the table talking.  Today's table talk was centered around Melinda, naturally, and I was really glad that my parents were able to get to know her better.  We had the movie Grease on in the background, and that gave for some interesting conversation starters.  First, we learned that they have a prom similar to ours.  She said that they do not have many other dances or functions through the school other than prom, unlike our Homecoming, Valentine's, Band Banquet, and any other reason to have a dance functions.  She mentioned that teenagers in Hungary like to go to the 'disco', but that she personally did not enjoy going because there is a lot of drugs there and she also does not enjoy the loud music.  I was surprised at the fact that you only have to be 13 in order to get into the 'discos'. Wow!  That young and in an environment filled with loud music, drugs, and alcohol...... (Okay, I totally had a Footloose moment there, but seriously!)  What a strong young women Melinda is to not be swayed by her peers!  Again, such an amazing young lady we have the fortune to get to know this summer.  

Dad grilled hamburgers for lunch, so we took a break from the tamale making fun to eat before picking it back up again.  This time, I put in a childhood favorite of mine, Willow.  Yah, I said it...Willow and Madmartigan, fighting the bad guys to keep Elora Danan away from the Queen, Bavmorda.  Gotta love the 80s!

Once we were done, Melinda was the first to volunteer to wash the dishes while Momma Nina cleaned up.  After getting mom off to a good start, we headed back home to get cleaned up for dinner.  Melinda decided to play her flute for a little bit and we sat quietly in the living room listening as she played through several songs.  As we were preparing dinner, Melinda offered to teach Ally how to play the flute while she is here.  Ally was so excited!  

Much to Abigail's delight, we had tamales for dinner.  Melinda had two tamales and said they were delicious.  Another topic discussed at the tamale table was a frozen treat that Melinda remembered from home.  She described it as the 'drink' that they throw at the choir members on the Fox t.v. show, Glee.  A Slurpee is what we decided to be the closest comparison.  After dinner, we decided to head out and get one for our desert.  A short drive into Mesquite proved to be a success!  I really think she's referring more to a slush from Sonic, so we'll have to make a stop tomorrow on the way home from the aquarium.

The girls wanted to watch Willow after dinner, so we snuggled up in the living room for a pre-bedtime movie.  Melinda had already seen it while making tamales, so she decided to do some reading out on the front porch.    She lasted a short time before the Texas sized mosquitos started swarming and decided to come back inside.  We all settled in for blog writing...and here you find me.