IN EVERY ISSUE
Christmas .
Cooking tamales was always a family affair because the work is labor intensive . Preparing the filling and masa , spreading , folding , wrapping and steaming the tamales is time consuming .
“ Everybody would gather in the kitchen ,” Taylor recalled . “ It takes four or five people , like an assembly line , and it takes a lot of time to make them .”
It was that family time spent cooking the tamales and other dishes she remembers so warmly .
“ The preparation was just as important as the meal itself and took days to complete ,” she noted . “ Everyone hung out in the kitchen and visited and shared so much love through all of those years . I remember the delicious smells in the kitchen and the laughter and chatter of the adults as they worked .”
Although her grandmother committed her tamale recipe to memory , she eventually passed it on to her daughter , Janelle Morton , who passed the recipe on to Taylor , her oldest daughter .
Taylor learned her way around the kitchen as a child while hanging out with her mother , grandmother and great grandmother and still loves being in the kitchen these days .
Once a month , she cooks dinner for her church family at
Jones Memorial Presbyterian Church . “ I have cooked as long as I can remember , ever since I
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“ The love of God and family and faithful traditions are the most meaningful things in life .”
Jenny Lynn Taylor
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