Honorable Traditions

"I admit she's not perfect, but I think I love her enough to overlook her faults."
-Nial Kent
"The Divided Path"

At holiday time people throughout the world honor traditions, and New Mexico is no exception. One tradition many here look forward to on Christmas Eve is a steaming bowl of posole (po-SO-lay), a spicy corn stew that is known as the ceremonial dish for celebrating life's blessings.

New Mexicans have been enjoying posole for centuries. The cuisine here springs from three cultures: Native American, Mexican, and European. The Rio Grande Pueblo Indians, and their ancestors, the “Anasazi,” or "ancient ones,” relied on corn, beans, squash, and chiles for sustenance. These early crops became firmly entrenched in the culture, forming the foundation of New Mexican cuisine even before the Spanish arrived.

Corn has been and is the major food plant of the Native Americans. Red, yellow, and blue corn are cultivated in New Mexico. The corn is ground into meal and flour for use in breads and tortillas, and it is processed into posole corn.

Posole corn is prepared by soaking hard kernels of field corn (traditionally white, although blue is sometimes used now) in powdered lime and water - a method thought to mimic the ancient preservation of corn in limestone caves. After several hours, when the corn kernels have swollen, the liquid is allowed to evaporate and the kernels to dry.

Posole is different from hominy, another kind of processed corn, which tends to be softer and more bland. Compared to hominy, posole’s flavor is intense and earthy, its consistency more robust. Since posole corn can be difficult to find, hominy is often used as a substitute in posole stew.

The variations for posole are many. Some make it with chicken rather than pork; some prefer to use vegetable protein rather than meat. While posole in Southern New Mexico is always made with red chile, it is not uncommon to find Northern New Mexico posole made with green chile.

Twenty-five years ago today:

December 24, 1984
Monday

Christmas Eve. I got dressed and went to mom's and watch TV. I indulged on posole (New Mexican style). I enjoyed some of Grandma's homemade tamale's as I listened to the Eurythmics play "Here Comes The Rain Again".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-o3tMA2bb0
And yes, I had a few M&M cookies, too.

Sherri had to work (at the Pic-A-Dilly retail clothing store) and I ended up having to care for Ashley from 3:30PM to 7PM all by my lonesome because mom had to work (at the Post-Office) a short shift from 4PM to 8PM on Christmas Eve! I took some fun, festive photos of Ashley though.

Dad made his holiday stops over at his half-sister's house near Fruitvale Ave (my Aunt Julia Vigil-Casillas). I'm sure they had a few cocktails and caught up on family gossip.

Sue Miller telephoned while I was wrapping last-minute Christmas gifts. I invited her over to my mom's house because she said, "I have a gift for you." She arrived while my Dad and I were watching 'Lady Chatterly's Lover' (a juicy part). She came with her brother, Mike Miller, who was wearing a neat, mod jacket that he bought in Belgium.

I started to watch the TV movie "Lace" with them, then changed it to "The Waltons". That show is Sue's speed 'for sure'. She likes 'John-Boy', I think. Mom arrived during the start of "The Waltons" episode, so we all watched together.

By midnight (when the midnight mass was being televised from St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy) Sue was falling asleep. She and Mike left not long after that. I went home myself and opened Sue's gift. She gave me a set of neat, gray and black striped bath towels. How nice. I can use them.


"Every action has its consequences."
-Stieg Larsson
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"