La Palma

Mexican food is quickly becoming somewhat of a Christmas Eve tradition for us. Last year we had Naomi's delicious enchiladas with all the fixings from La Palma. This year we had chili con carne made with ancho chilis and sirloin steak - no chili powder and ground beef here! Tyler and I headed to the Mission to do our grocery shopping at La Palma and Casa Lucas Market right next door. Tyler enjoyed browsing the store for the all the exotic candy and sodas.

From La Palma, we picked up fresh made tortilla chips, salsa fresca, and masa for tortillas. You can buy the prepared masa for a little more than $1 per pound and make your own fresh tortillas. You'll never want to eat store bought tortillas again.

For the tortillas, you need a tortilla press, a clean plastic garbage bag, and a griddle. I bought my tortilla press next door at Casa Lucas Market for about $10. Cut a wide strip of garbage bag or similar material to sandwich the masa in between the disks of the press. Roll a piece of masa into a ball about the size of a ping-pong ball, place the masa in between the two sides of the plastic bag, and press. Next open the press and peel the tortilla from the plastic. Don't press too hard, it doesn't take much and the thinner the tortilla, the more difficult it will be to peel it off the plastic. Put the pressed dough onto a hot griddle and cook on each side until slightly golden.

Fresh tortillas might be one of the most heavenly foods ever invented and are definitely worthy of becoming a Christmas Eve tradition.