Foodsday Tuesday: Home for the Holidays

I am writing this post in El Paso, Texas, from the bedroom that was exclusively mine from the ages of just-turned-thirteen to nearly-nineteen. My mom has since taken it over as sort of an office/storage space for all her teaching supplies. I can't blame her: I'm home, at best, three weeks out of the year these days.

If you're a regular reader of Foodsday Tuesday, you already know that I have a strong penchant for Mexican food. It's overpowering at times. When I go home for the holidays, I always ship a big box of Mexican ingredients back to Philadelphia so that I can satisfy my periodic, and unhealthy, cravings. But it's just not the same as being home, where I can drive a mile in any direction from my house and find at least four Mexican restaurants before the odometer turns over.

(Unhealthy) things I crave when I go back to El Paso:

• Green chicken enchiladas. Green sauce in El Paso is made from green chilies, not tomatillos like the sauces you'll find in Philly, if you're lucky enough to find green sauce at all. When I pack up the box to send back east, cans of green enchilada sauce occupy half or more of it.
• Pozole. I've been able to make a modified version of pozole a few times in Philadelphia. This has been when I'm lucky enough to find hominy (not grits—the whole kind) in Philly. I've sampled several different recipes of this soup, but it's generally chicken broth with hominy and some stewed tomatoes, simmered with shredded pork, then topped off before serving with sliced radishes (which I generally don't like, but at least put up with for pozole), lime wedges, and cheese.
• Chili verde. My mom's. It's probably not the most authentic (because, you know, we're Jewish and decidedly Caucasian), but whenever I get a cold, my first instinct is to fly home and have her make me a batch. It's way, way better than chicken soup. It's made with chunks of steak (you can use chicken, but it's not nearly as good), potatoes, and stewed tomatoes with green chiles and jalapeños. In my house, we usually make it into burritos, but sometimes I'll just eat a big bowl of it, tortilla-free.
• Tamales. If you've never had tamales, it's going to be hard for me to explain to you what they are. Cooked meat or sometimes veggies rolled into a sort of dough made from masa (corn) meal, then wrapped in a corn husk and steamed until the dough is puffy and moist and crumbly (not flaky). Tamales scream Christmas to me. They're the first thing I want when I'm home this time of year. I've been here for three days already, and no tamales in sight yet. This saddens me.
• Margaritas. Okay, so it's not food. But margaritas around here are just so, so much better than any margaritas I've ever found in Philly. I think it's probably because good tequila is cheaper and easier to come by—I can literally walk into Mexico, buy a bottle of Patron or Don Julio Añejo for under $20 (US), declare it at customs, walk back into the States, pay the taxes (it's not duty-free when you do it this way), and still spend a lot less than it would cost you in Philly. And good tequila makes better margaritas. If you've never had a margarita made with the good stuff, go now. Just know that for every one you drink in Philly, I'll be enjoying three.
• Chico's Tacos. Chico's Tacos are so important to my experience as an El Pasoan that they made it into my senior thesis. I've never seen anything like them anywhere else in the world, and when I try to describe them to people, it just sounds gross or wrong. Three flautas (deep-fried, rolled beef tacos) served in a paper bowl, topped off with watery tomato sauce and a mountain of grated, probably artificial, cheese. But it's the first place most alums of my high school go when they're back in town from the holidays (it's on the way between the airport and home), and I find myself salivating now, even thinking of it.

I'm re-reading this post now and it's completely gotten out of hand. It was just supposed to be a quick post, saying "here are the foods my family indulges in during the holidays; what foods say 'holiday' to you and your family?" It wasn't supposed to be an epicurean travel guide to El Paso, because, hey, let's face it, how many of you are ever going to visit here anyway?

So now to return to my original intent: it's Chanukah now, and Christmas is Monday. What foods do you and your family like to indulge in this time of year? Leave us a comment and let us know! (Recipes especially welcome.)

Photo of the Franklin Mountains in El Paso via UTEP.