I schedule this event as a must-do whenever I’m in the area. Somerton, a small town south of Yuma, closes off it’s downtown and a bunch (about 50) of tamale makers sell their products for charity. The event gets bigger every year, and the parking hassle does, too.
One approach is to sample around, grabbing a different flavor from different vendors (each tamale is $2), including something ridiculously exotic. But tamales are filling so I went with the plan of not necessarily eating, but buying to take home and freeze. One from here, two from there, throw in one of those. Fill up a bag.
Now I have tamales for weeks. I didn’t label them so whenever I pull something out of the freezer I won’t know what it is. No matter, I have never met a tamale I didn’t like.
One day a year, unfortunately.