Santos Tamalitos

Every day this week — water pressure notwithstanding — has felt like a Sunday.

Right now there are hordes of little old ladies wandering around outside delivering their pre-ordered tamalitos. As with frijoles, if you're brave enough to include this particular Guatemalan delicacy in your breakfast, you really ought to have a clear idea how the rest of the day is supposed to pan out.

The viejitas who sell us our Chapin snacks every Wednesday — which we have singularly failed to consume in snackish quantities — offered us some wonderfully moist tamalitos con chipilín this week for Q5 each. These are an annual highlight.

Meanwhile, Doña Mari's are super-sized and cost Q8 each. She makes them with two varieties of cheese, but I find them a little bland and masudos in comparison. The trick here is to serve them sautéed with a dusting of pepper, pimentón and a few aromatic leaves, as seen in the pic above.

We were tempted to add some yaki nori again, but we've found that it gives of its best as an alternative herb when lightly cooked as part of a salsa. (Tequila and honey seem to go especially well with this.)

I've been out front this afternoon reading from the device V calls my 'Swindle'. A tuctuc has just passed me for the umpteenth time, an apparent victim of directions dished out earlier by R.

I somehow doubt whether R could provide accurate instructions on how to get to his own house from the other side of the street. Everyone from Álvaro Arzú to Domino's Pizza (30 mintos o gratis...hehe) has fallen prey to his unique talent for confounding inquirers.