Beating the January blahs - Southwest style

It's that inevitable moment in early January when I realize the holidays are truly over. Grey skies mirror my mood, with no bright holiday decorations to dispel the gloom.  I take out a 2017 calendar and contemplate the blank spaces waiting to be filled in with life's new happenings.

Each year I order a calendar from the Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). I look forward to pictures of rescued cats and dogs and their heartwarming stories.  My own special pet, my cat Bitsy, is curled up beside the computer keyboard, wishing I would rub her head instead of type on the keyboard.

So what does a Southwesterner do to beat the winter blahs?  What can I write in those empty blocks on the January calendar?  Fortunately, because I live on the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso, I have an opportunity to extend the holiday season until after January 6th by celebrating Día de los Reyes Magos,Three Kings Day.  This year my husband, Wayne, and I splurged on a large rosca de reyes, a special cake offered by local bakeries for this occasion. Our cake was especially delicious because it was filled with cajeta, a thick caramel syrup.  We took half of the cake to a friend's house and devoured the rest over several days.

Rosca de Reyes

Bakers hide a small plastic Baby Jesus (or sometimes more than one) in the cake.  Whoever finds the figure is supposed to host a tamale party on February 2, Candlemas Day. I wish someone would host a Candelmas party and invite me, because by February I will probably to be desperate for entertainment.

Three and a half long weeks in January loom ahead.  Here are some things I may do to keep up my spirits:

*collaborate with Wayne to finish a mystery book we are writing - Forts, Farbs, and Phantoms;
*publish Seasons and Seasonings of the Southwest on Kindle;
*pay special attention to my 73 houseplants;
*catch up on language study on Duolingo;
*plan a May trip to Ireland to participate in a steam train tour;
*take classes at the local Osher Lifelong Learning Center;
*lose a few pounds added during the holidays and train vacation to Canada.

OR... I could curl up in front of the fireplace with a thick book and occasionally gaze out the window at the bare landscape.  My 2017 calendar is as bare as that landscape, ready for whatever the future may bring.

     

Three Southwestern Holiday Dishes

Try as I may, I cannot make it through the end of the year holidays without indulging in some special foods.  And living in the Desert Southwest, these foods usually have a special southwestern flair. Here are three dishes that my family enjoyed recently.

Tamales and winter holidays are made for each other. Tamale shops around El Paso, my home town, gear up in December for requests for large orders of tamales. Other more traditional families host tamaladas (tamale making parties) with family and friends forming a line to assembly the tamales before placing them in a large pot to steam.  (As an ex-Spanish teacher, I am a bit bothered by not using the more correct Spanish version, tamal in the singular form, tamales for plural, but I am guessing most readers will recognize "tamale" over tamal.)

This year my husband, Wayne, and I opted for the easier route and stopped by a nearby Pepe's Tamales shop to buy a few tamales for New Year's Eve.  Still, decisions had to be made.  A half-dozen or a dozen?  Red chile with pork, green chile with chicken, or green chile with cheese? We walked out of the shop with my favorite, six green chile with cheese tamales.  

We heated the tamales in a steamer on the stove and served them with pinto beans, Spanish rice, a dab of guacamole, and mango salsa.  The new plates that were a Christmas present were a perfect backdrop for a delicious meal.  

  

Another special dish we prepared this holiday season was Eggs Benedict.  Wayne is addicted to Eggs Benedict ever since he had a wonderful version of this dish in Dublin, Ireland.  I bought him an egg poacher for Christmas so that the eggs would be a snap to prepare, and we could concentrate on making a tasty sauce.  The egg poacher came with a sauce recipe. It was acceptable, but not as delicious as Wayne remembered. (Isn't that often the case with food memories?) Eggs Benedict can be transformed into a southwestern dish by putting any number of sauces made with chile on them. The eggs were served on our old Mexican dishes, which were soon to be put away to make room for the new ones.

 

Red enchiladas were also on the menu at our house this holiday season.  Of course, one can eat red enchiladas any time of the year, but somehow the rich red color of the sauce makes this dish especially appropriate around Christmas time.  The quality of the red sauce is key.  I sometimes spend an afternoon in the kitchen and make red sauce from scratch, that is, starting with the dried chile pods.  This time, however, Wayne whipped up a sauce using red chile powder.  He served the enchiladas with a side order of refried beans and a few leftover little sausages on some metal plates with wooden bases that we found at an antique shop many years ago.  

All this talk of food is making me crave something spicy, but unfortunately the holidays have just ended, and the pantry is bare except for a large jar of peanut butter.  I'll have to have a slathering of it on an apple slice and dream about a great dish to celebrate Valentine's Day, which seems very far away.