Tamales on the Bridge

If you have been following this blog for a while you may remember that in January of last year one of my former students, Meredith, and her husband, Chuck, accompanied me to Mérida, Mexico, where I was their tour guide for several days.

Meredith sent me an email a while ago telling me that they would be in Ohio (they now live in Wisconsin) for a few days to celebrate her parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  She wondered if we might get together for a socially distanced picnic somewhere.

We made plans to meet on Sunday.  The weather forecast called for rain, so I suggested that we meet at the covered bridge in Olmsted Falls.  That way we could be in an open air setting but have a roof over our heads.

For our lunch, I suggested that I get something at the Mexican supermarket in Cleveland.  The last time that I was there, I had noticed that they had packages of tamales, made at at the store, and wrapped in corn husks the way they should be.  So on Saturday I made a trip there and bought a package of a half dozen chicken tamales.  I also hoped that they would have in the bakery section "pan de muerto" (Bread of the Dead), which in Mexico is already being sold in the bakeries in anticipation of Day of the Dead (November 2).  Unfortunately, they did not have any, so I just bought some pastries.

I heated the tamales (still in the corn husks) in a steamer prior to leaving the house.  We brought chairs, and we made the covered bridge our own personal picnic pavilion.  The tamales were quite good and they were still warm.

In spite of the fact that it was a dreary, chilly, rainy day, we had a great time.  We sat and talked for nearly three hours.  I was great to see Meredith and Chuck once again!