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| View from front door. Notice bull nose trimmed from top step. |
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| Landing at bottom of stairs and area by front door remain. View from dining room. |
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| View from dining room. |
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| View from steps going upstairs. |
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| View from steps going upstairs. |
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| View from steps going upstairs. |
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| View from kitchen counter. |
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| View from landing, looking at base of kitchen counter. |
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| Black crock pot. Brisket cut "across the grain." |
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| Excellent to have a big kitchen counter. |
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| Happy kitchen staff. |
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| Sure - take our picture. |
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| Beef - waiting for sauce. |
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| Soak corn husks. Overnight is best. Also clean out silks. |
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| Mix up corn flour with shortening and spices. |
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| Sauce added. Use same red chili sauce that is placed on table for diners. |
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| Corn meal - seeking peanut butter consistency. |
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| Laptop for recipe updates as we go. Corn husks waiting to be filled. |
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| Kitchen staff fuel. Bells Oberon - actually contribution of home brew. Note Mexican beer for Mexican food. |
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| Tamale ready to wrap up. |
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| Tamales ready to loaded to black crab steamer pot on the left. |
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| Notice pot on the right has holes for steam. |
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| Tamales in the pot ready to be covered and steamed - to cook corn meal. |
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| Corn husks make a top, to prevent steam condensation on pot lid from "raining" into tamales. |
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| Oil and flour make a roux. Traditional start of any gravy, used to start "red sauce" used for meat filing and placed on table. |
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| Start second batch with Crisco. |
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| Beating Crisco with mixer, adds air bubbles to shortening for lighter corm meal wrapper. |
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| Add chili powders to roux. Kitchen smells great. |
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| Get cooked tamales off the stove. |
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| Hot tamales, too hot to remove from pot by hand. |
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| First batch of tamales, with red sauce. |
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| New kitchen staff for second batch. |
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| Second batch appears done. |
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| Taste testing. |
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| The Ancho Chili added a rich smokey flavor to the sauce. The red Valentina added some "heat." Cumin is a must have. The Feb 2011 labels are from a spice carried at Wal-Mart, on the left California and the right is New Mexico. A blend of chili powders appears to be best. |
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| El Chilar came from local Latin market. There was a time when we bought corn husks from craft store. Today easy to find corn husks. |
