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Harvest Tamales

Harvest Tamales

Tamales are an ancient Mesoamerican steamed dumplings, made from masa harina wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, and usually stuffed with either meat, beans or vegetables. It is not only an easy to carry provision, but also has significant ritual meaning. It was served as offering to the gods, and copal incense shaped as tamales were placed in the mouth of the dead before burying, and is to this day served as an offering to the ancestors on Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico.  

Tamales can be stuffed with anything really, but here I bring you a fall favourite: tamales with sweet potato and chestnut filling. They have a savoury and sweet taste and are a treat all around. They can be steamed in both corn husks and banana leaves (although each wrapper requires a different kind of prep and a slightly different wrapping technique). 

For the masa, I'm giving you my recipe for one that is based on store-bought dried up masa harina. It's a very similar dough to that used for making corn tortillas, only a bit softer and with the addition of baking powder and more oil or fat (your choice which kind). 

The filling can be made with either orange or purple yams, with an equally delightful flavour. 

Masa:
2 cups masa harina (specialty corn flour that was processed with lime)
1-1/2 to 2 cups warm water
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2-4 Tbs grapeseed oil, sunflower oil or another nutritious and neutral tasting oil; or butter if you wish
- Measure the masa harina, salt and baking powder together, and mix with a fork
- Gradually add 1-1/2 cups of water, not all at once, and the oil, and knead with hands. Add up to another 1/2 cup if needed. The dough should be soft but not sticky (if too sticky add more masa harina)
- Divide the dough into 20 even sized balls and set aside, covered with a towel to prevent drying. If you're using corn husks, you may need to make more smaller balls. 

Filling:
2 medium sized yams (or 4 small sized), either purple or orange 
1/2 cup pre-boiled and shelled chestnuts (I used the entire content of a vacuum package) 
1 medium purple or sweet onion, chopped
1/4 tsp chipotle chilli pepper, powdered, or chipotle pepper paste
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
a pinch of cinnamon
Salt to taste
Oil for sautéing 
- Wash and steam the yams until soft. I like to keep the peel on (that's where all the vitamins are, and it adds a nice texture and flavour)
- Sauté the onions, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and are golden-brown and significantly shrank in size but not burnt
- Chop the chestnuts
- Cut the steamed yams into cubes and mix with the spices, onions, and chestnuts

Now it's time to start forming the tamales!
If your'e using corn husks, blanch them in boiling water to soften them. Flatten the masa ball into a small flat disk on the palm of you rhand, place a teaspoon or so of filling, close with your fist and place inside the corn husk, folding the bottom to close it. 

If you're using banana leaves, run the leaf briefly over an open flame to shrivel it, wipe clean with a wet cloth, then remove the leave's spine and cut each side into appropriate size pieces. Best way to go about that is try one for size, make sure it is wide enough to encase a tamale, and then use that as a guide for cutting all the other parts. 
For forming the tamales, place the leaf on a tortilla press, place a masa ball on top, layer it overtop with a plastic sheet (to prevent sticking to the top of the press), then place a spoonful of filling, and wrap the tamale from all sides, using the banana leaf to shape it and fold and then close it in. 

In both cases, the tamales should arranged in a steam, with the open side up, a. d steamed for about an hour. To make sure there is always enough water at the bottom of the pot, and prevent scorching, place a couple of coins in the bottom of the pot. If you don't hear it rattling, it means the water run out and you need to add more. 

Serve hot or room temperature, these are delicious on their own but even better with a spicy salsa to balance the sweetness. Or with a homemade molé amarillo. 

Yom Kippur + Thanksgiving

Pumpkin and thorns

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of my friends and customers in Canada. I'm quite overwhelmed with the flood of Jewish holidays, and the time difference - so I didn't manage to get a chance to commemorate a tradition of gratitude which I grew to embrace and call my own. So I'm going to merge together the two traditions - Jewish and Canadian - and say sorry and thank you in one post... It's a perfect pairing for Yom Kippur and Thanksgiving, don't you think?

This year I'm particularly thankful for all my friends in Vancouver, old and new,  who jumped to the task of helping me wrap up 18 years of life and ship them to the other side of the globe. I know it was more painful for them at the time than it was for me  (with the tremendous pressure of preparations, the realization of what was really happening has only began to sink in after I've arrived here). So I'm also sorry for all the mess, trouble and sadness my departure was mingled with and sorry for leaving.  We'll have to arrange some trans-atlantic visits. I promise you: there's lots to see here in my new neighbourhood of the Western Galilee. The more I discover about it, the more excited I get about my new life here. 

And I'm particularly thankful for my family, who've received me here with open hearts and arms, and made my landing as soft as possible. Thank you for putting up with the shock and turmoil that immigration entails for those who experience it firsthand and those who support them. I arrived here in a state of shock and only learned after the fact that moving countries brings so much grief. Literally. People spend at least a year grieving the life they had in the previous country as if they've lost a loved one.  Not to mention the daily struggles with language, customs, geography. There is not a night when I don't wake up in horror from a realization (or a dream) that I left something really important back in my old home. Add to that many bureaucratic paradoxality that not only boggles the mind but also directly impedes on our daily life and my family's well-being. 

I have a newfound admiration for immigrants the world over and a deeper understanding of why my countries are the way they are - for better and for worse. Immigrants should be saluted to, not laughed at for their accents or weird customs. 

So I'm going to apologize in advance and ask my family's forgiveness for all the mess that we're going to be facing in the next few months until my home is ready and until we're fully used to our new surroundings. We're off to a very wild ride together... 

Gmar Chatima Tova!

Fall



"It is deadly to be without a confidante, without a guide, without even a tiny cheering section". (Clarissa Pinkola-Estes).

Being a transitional season from abundance to constriction, fall is time of reflection, contemplation, checking the balances in both the physical world and spiritual world. Taking stock of harvests, planning for a long winter. And also - taking note of what's missing from one's spiritual life, seeking it out, and nourishing what is there. These supplies would sustain the soul in a long, harsh, cold and dark winter.

Fall is also a season for sorting. This fall I've been doing a lot of re-structuring for my business, creating a new website which is to be hosted on a new server. Through this process, there was the inevitable weeding out of many fragrances that were not sustainable enough to keep in stock regularly, and get rid of a lot of language that was no longer useful on the website, weeding out not only stale content, but also eliminating things that are taking away from the core of what I do, shifting my focus and taking away energy and attention from what's really important. The new website will be a lot more user-friendly, and all my musings on this blog are integrated into the website as well, which is quite wonderful (all the way back to the first blog posts from 2006!).

The other focus of attention for me this fall has been wrapping up my book project. While it is a new edition of an existing book, it has a lot of new material added (almost double in size). The new book is 218 pages long, printed locally in perfect binding, with ISBN and all... It's bulk of new material includes a glossary for over 250 terms; and 55 original formulae for learning in a very concrete manner about all the different fragrance families and their sub-categories. I really cannot wait for it to be ready so that I can share it with you. But it also brings to a close a very long chapter of procrastination in my life. I am the type of person who sits on an idea for prolonged periods of time, stewing over them so to speak, and then in a very concentrated effort I push it forward to completion. Not unlike birth, now that I come to think of it... The pushing part is the part when progress is visible. But most of the hard work was really done in the procrastination phase, when the ideas just "cook" and morph in my head, undergoing an alchemical process (or perhaps it is me who goes through this process).

But this is already digressing from the topic that I'm set to tackle here. Which brings me back to the quote from Pinkola-Estes' life-changing book "Women Who Run with the Wolves". I've been reading it on and off for a couple of years now, as the ideas in it are really difficult to digest and require integrating in one's psyche to really have an impact and understand the meaning behind her stories and wise feminine lore. That particular quote really struck a chord with me. And since this is a time of reflection, it reminded me of how important it is for someone to have support. It takes a village not just to raise a child; but also to keep that child healthy, connected, vibrant through life. We can't live in a vacuum, and we can't create in a hollow space that occupies nothing but our hearts. An artist needs his audience just as much as my perfumes need your skin to really bloom, breathe, and make a change. So thank you for being my little cheering section. And thank you to SmellyBlog readers to being my confidantes - because this blog is a journal of sorts. Lastly, thank you to all of my colleagues, mentors and students for teaching me, inspiring me and forcing me to move forward and share my  knowledge. It is one of those few things that really keeps me going...

I meant to post this for Thanksgiving (in Canada we celebrated it this past weekend), so I hope this is not too late! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Wishing you all a fragrant fall, a joyous harvest season, and many blessings for the new Jewish year, the new school year, and beyond!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Pie by Ayala Moriel
Pumpkin Pie, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Canadians celebrating!
We've been fortunate with a glorious sunny autumn weekend, allowing us to breath in the crisp, sweetly scented fall air, gather inspiration in VanDusen Gardens, and drench our bones in some kayaking adventures in Deep Cove.
In the meantime, I invite you to try my pumpkin pie recipe, with an orange-lavender crust. FYI I used roasted fresh pumpkins for this pie in the picture - and it gives it a beautiful depth with hints of smokiness.

For the Orange-Lavender Shortbread Crust:

100gr (1 stick) butter
1 cup + 1 Tbs Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbs Orange Juice
Rind from 1 orange
1 tsp fresh or dry lavender buds

2 Tbs Sugar

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract (Or use vanilla sugar instead of the sugar above)
- Using your fingers or a manual dough blender, mix together butter and flour inside the pie pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead just until a dough forms (avoid overworking the dough, as it would take away from its flakiness).
- Press the dough firmly onto the pan to spread it evenly and line the pie pan (including the sides of course!).

Pumpkin Custard Filling:

3 eggs
1-1/2 cup Cooked and pureed pumpkin (if you have fresh - all the better; if not - canned pumpkin is good too)
1 cup cream or hald&half (I prefer full cream)

2 Tbs Orange Juice
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Tbs grated fresh Ginger (I freeze my ginger and than it is really easy to grate it; the taste is incomparable to the dried ginger!)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Nutmeg (freshly grated), or ground mace

Bake in 350 F (170-180 c) degrees for 40-60 minutes, until the filling is set.
Serve warm or cooled down to room temperature.

Serving suggestions: I like it best on it's own with milky cinnamon or chai tea on the side. But of course you can’t go wrong with the traditional a-la-mode (be sure to use real vanilla bean ice cream) or a dollop of freshly whipped cream or crème fraiche.
Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie



Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving 2012 by Ayala Moriel
Happy Thanksgiving 2012, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
Happy Thanksgiving for all my Canadian readers celebrating today!
And what better opportunity than today to say a bit THANK YOU for reading my random smelly musings on this little strip of virtual landscape; and for your growing number of comments, which are fascinating and intelligent and add to the smelly spirit of this space.

We celebrated a bit early this year with friends and family in our non-traditional annual stuffed vegetables feast Saturday night and are enjoying a marvellous sunny and warm couple of weeks. Very unusual for October! I even went on a Thanksgiving ocean swim - but what else is new?!
How are you celebrating today? Any special Thanksgiving perfumes or autumn favourites? I'm wearing Megumi myself today, which seems to go equally well with the crispiness of the fall morning and the sunnier, warmer afternoons.

Please note: because today is a holiday, spent out of doors with my dear daughter (and indoors too baking fresh fig tarts!) - the Monkey Monday contest will be posted next week - we've got a really cool prize for next week that I hope will be worth the wait :-)
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