Great Balls of Fire!

12/29
Oh my dear Virgen de Guadalupe...what the heck HAPPENED? There I was minding my own business last Saturday and all of the sudden, something was just not right. I've been forgetting to eat during the holiday rush but this was different, I truly felt ill. Is this what I get for *thinking*, "WOW, I didn't get SICK this year!!!" I tried to eat a soft taco, but I was queasy. Food and I are not friends and that makes me sad. I ran to the restroom...NADA. I hid in the Fiesta Room in the dark trying to figure out why there was a growing ball of fire overtaking my GUT. It steadily grew and was the size of a LARGE Honeydew melon and was burning bright. I text messaged Sweet Bratty Niece that I needed mineral water and where she could find me. She found me leaning against the wall with my feet up and just shook her head with worried eyes, " You don't look so good"

Renee was coming in late since she had a cold and we were worried about her hacking up a lung. Fortunately, she showed up about an hour later and sent me on my way home. I managed once again to climb the stairs and fall into bed. I did get "sick" and I will spare the gory details. NOT GOOD and there I remained all of Sunday 12/30 too. Renee IMs that I have to stay home from work on NYE, see food service and tummy trouble do not mix. Things improve a bit and the ball of fire is shrinking but I am still ill. BOO, no parties or drinking for me for the New Year. This just blows since Days of the Dead, my birthday and NYE are my most FAVORITE holidays (yes, I do consider my BDay a holiday.) Gilberto and I hang out on yelp.com with the other sickies and sober folks staying in at home.
1/1
Finally, I manage to make it out of the house. Gilberto wants to see a movie, Juno, and the ball of fire in my gut is now the size of a lemon. We have a quick meal and the flick was great, well written and funny. Maybe this NYE stuff is really overrated? It was interesting to be calm, well rested and not hungover on the first day of the year. Boo, who am I kidding? I really wanted to party it up but maybe this is a sign of what this year will be like, mature and serious? Stay tuned.
1/2
My great ball of fire is now a memory. I wake up feeling OK. My day is spent updating stuff, emails and hanging on Yelp once again. The Elite '08 badges were posted and our EB posse all made it. It is also Stevie's BDay so I make sure to let him know I'm thinking about him and we decide to try to make plans to party this weekend. I go out for dinner with Renee and all is fine with eating. Food and I are no longer enemies. La Borinquena is open tomorrow and I have TONS of stuff to do. It should go well in Tamale World and let's see how 2008 treats us!

To see another day

Wow, yesterday felt like one of the L O N G E S T days of my life, yet it went by SO QUICKLY. This was the first time I wrote the work schedule for our two crazy days. Gilberto and I went in at 1:30am and the drunk, LOUD fools coming out of Mexicali Rose were just as obnoxious as ever. Renee had turned on the ovens at 11pm Friday so we could get a jump start with the first load of tamales. So the first half hour was a blur, Gil and I had to pull out 24 trays (each holding about 3 dozen tamales), then reload the ovens, continue by making 6packs to sell in these boxes called Bio-Pack. They look like larger, flatter Chinese food box and can be a pain to work with since you don't want tamale juice on the outside. So, we work in 130 minute cycles: unload, reload, pack, repeat. We did the first two loads by ourselves but then reinforcements came in every couple hours after that. Things were going well except for when I threw my back out around 7am. POP a painkiller, stretch a bit...the show must go on! Our regular crew, some of their children who work as runners and clean up for a couple of days, and one of my fave Yelpers, Steven G VOLUNTEERS to help out. Like for reals, he has just a great personality and spirit, asks if I'm sure I only want him to work 8am to noon. I say to him, "How about we start there and play it by ear"...the novices are so cute, they have no idea what they are getting themselves into! (to read more from him, http://www.steven-g.com/)

All of the sudden it's time to open, 9am came around so quickly. Customers lined up at the front door ready to pick up tamales, masa and other Mexican treats. I switch to working my tamale corner that takes up the rear dining area. Familiar faces as well a new people walk up to me prepared with their customer numbers to look up the order the placed weeks and days before. Before I know it, hours are ticking by like minutes, so many customers, SO MANY TAMALES. I bop by the grocery dept to see how things are going with Mami and Sweet Bratty Niece. So far, so good and everyone is leaving happy. "Mis Ninas", the "girls" who staff our restaurant are making plates, burritos and making sure peeps who need sides for for holiday meals are all set. I check the messages on our main voice mail and on my cell phone (it's the tamaleline for questions and changes on tamale pre orders) fix things and confirm changes.

Around 2pm, I decide I'm going to try to head out...mush mind is settling in. You know how the saying goes, "The lights are on, but nobody's home"...my mind is not lost but just not working anymore! I finally make out the front door at 3pm, ok, it's been 13 1/2 at La Borinquena but now I got to make it up the stairs in the TALL and winding staircase in my home to make it to my bed! I make it and a two hour nap later, I feel human again. Gil, SBN along with Gracie B head out to Chinatown because I NEED Honey Walnut Prawns and a tapioca drink...I don't want no stinkin' tamales for dinner! Later, we hang in my kitchen drinking Screamin' Lise's (limade, sparkling water and vanilla vodka), minus the screamin' for Sweet Bratty Niece (she's only 17). I got a really good night's sleep and here I am seeing another day. We close on Sundays, always, so no customers today. Gil and I have to reload the ovens before we nap tonight, Renee will fire things up again at 11pm, Gilbeto and I will be there again at 1:30am.

Unload, Reload, Pack, REPEAT...so goes another day in Tamale World.