Upcoming Foodventure: Holy Tamales (Indio, Dec. 2-3)

A heads-up to fellow foodies reading this, Indio will, again be doing their International Tamale Festival on the first weekend of December (2nds and 3rd) - their 15th annual. Go early and bring an ice chest & some freeze-paks!!--there are dozens of tamale boothes - selling both traditional and modernized varieties. Stomachs being large as they are (unless you participate in competitive eating), there are plenty you'd want to bring back on your long drive home. Frozen baggies & sharpie markers also help--it's easy to mix 'em up, and if you're like me, you wanna keep a record of what's good and what's not.

Based on my 3 years of experience with the Indio Fair, here are some delicious boothes to watch out for:

*Grandma Lupe (always an hour wait at least, but her strawberry & cream cheese, as well as her traditional beef & pork, are SO worth it - and she only makes tamales for this event!)
*Corn Maiden (for those interested in the more modernized stuff, I have a weakness for their sweet yellow corn + cheddar cheese as well as their belgium chocolate + caramelized walnuts + raspberries)
*Molly's Tamales (hailing from Phoenix, Arizona - last year their salmon tamales, made with wild sockeye salmon, according this Arizona Republic article, converted me to seafood tamale fillings)

And of course, I went to the L.A. 2nd Annual International Tamale Festival that took place this past weekend, but that holds no candle to the 15th Annual Indio one (which I've attended for 3 years straight). And yes, I will be posting a special foodventure for the former very soon.

Hope to see y'all @ Indio! (if you see someone hauling an ice chest on wheels with a digi-camera, probably me ^_~) - for more info (directions, parking, vendors, etc.) go to www.tamalefestival.net.