Doing Christmas, Texas-style

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2017 (2316 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a winter wonderland outside my window. Big, fluffy flakes are falling from the night sky, coming to rest on an elaborate, lit-up Christmas display, complete with a polar bear.

The air has that beautiful muffled silence that comes with new snowfall and it’s a picture-perfect seasonal scene.

The one hitch? I’m in San Antonio, Texas, which hasn’t had snow that stuck around since 1985. And though it’s a delightful novelty for the folks here, to a Winnipegger, it just means I won’t get to use the amazing waterslides or swim in the outdoor pool at the sprawling J.W. Marriott Hill Country resort — but the ice-glazed cacti are quite beautiful.

By 10 the next morning, the only remaining sign of the “storm” is a rapidly dwindling tiny snowman in front of the Alamo, but the unexpected touch of winter has amped up the holiday feel in a town that takes Christmas pretty seriously.

It’s always a bit discombobulating for a northerner to see lights and fir wreaths and Santa ornaments against a backdrop of green leaves and warm sunshine, but it’s pretty pleasant.

However, there’s a holiday tradition that’s more specific to San Antonio. Mexican culture is an unmistakable part of life here, and it wouldn’t be Christmas without a huge batch of homemade tamales.

For those who don’t know their masa from a hole in the ground, the wonderful Witte Museum hosts a tamalada, or tamale-making party, led by Ellen Riojas Clark.

Clark, a PhD who teaches bicultural bilingual studies at the University of Texas-San Antonio, is a colourful woman with big hair and a bigger personality; she’s known as the Tamales Queen of Texas and she’s the author of the cookbook/cultural history Tamales, Comadres and the Meaning of Civilization: Secrets, Recipes, History, Anecdotes, and a Lot of Fun.

She reassures the class of about 25 students that a tamalada is about the process, not the product. It’s a time for families (almost always women, naturally — “a gathering of brujas (witches)” is how Clark says some men think of it) to come together in the kitchen, where they gossip, drink tequila and whip up enormous batches of cornmeal tamales, filled with chicken, pork or beans and wrapped in corn husks.

As we knead our masa dough to get the right consistency and season our pinto bean mixture, the 70-ish Clark gives us tips. She advocates for using fresh lard in your tamales, but, more importantly, she stresses looking your best: you should be wearing earrings (the more dangly the better), you must apply fresh lipstick, put a delantal (apron) over your dress and come prepared with your juiciest chisme (gossip).

These are rules she learned at the knee of her great-aunt, Tia Hope. “She wore heels at 93,” recalls Clark, gesturing at her much more sensible shoes.

With her considerable assistance, we manage to wrap up our bean tamales in a relatively presentable fashion and stack them vertically in giant pots of water to steam. While they cook, we share some chisme with our tablemates.

They turn out beautifully — comforting, slightly spicy and flavourful, and a much better Christmas tradition than fruitcake.

Staggering through a bit of a tamale coma, we only have time for a quick visit to the McNay Art Museum, which is too bad because it’s a total gem. Located in a residential neighbourhood, it’s the former home of founder Marion Koogler McNay, a 24-room Spanish Colonial Revival building with a beautiful tiled courtyard.

Under the guidance of new director Rich Aste — the Peruvian-born former curator of the Brooklyn Museum — the museum is stressing inclusivity, expanding bilingual services and changing the way it helps kids foster an interest in art. The modern works are grouped in ways that encourage discussion, rather than hung according to period or artist, and the whole atmosphere is open and welcoming.

A particularly fun section is the wing dedicated to capturing the nebulous nature of the performing arts. The current exhibition Behind the Screen: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas features sketches, models and maquettes from the macabre animated film. Its companion piece, Stage Frights: Madness, Monsters, Mayhem, looks at haunting, horrifying scenes from operas, movies and theatre; both run until Feb. 4.

Also, worth a much longer visit is the San Antonio Botanical Garden, a 38-acre urban oasis. Glassed-in pavilions are dedicated to succulents, ferns or palms and cycads, and paths meander through manicured gardens and wilder areas. Wander the Texas Native Trail to see examples of the plants of South Texas, Hill Country and the East Texas Piney Woods and stop at the Bird Watch to see orange-crowned warblers, long-billed thrashers and ruby-crowned kinglets.

• • •

Fredericksburg, a town founded by German immigrants about 90 minutes northwest of San Antonio, is one of those impossibly quaint little places that seems to take you back in time, and it’s well worth the drive. The main road is lined with boutiques and cafés, the awnings festooned with lights, bows and wreaths and the town square, or Marktplatz, features an enchanting German Christmas pyramid, with rotating wooden wise men and shepherds.

Its position on Highway 290, what’s called the Wine Road, has lured oenophiles to visit the many wineries within driving distance (shuttle services are available for those who prefer not to spit out their sips).

But there’s no need to go very far afield to sample what Texas Hill Country wineries have to offer. Many have opened tasting rooms in town, including one of the largest, Becker Vineyards.

In a renovated Buick dealership building, visitors can taste premium pours from this venerable (for Texas, anyway) vineyard run by Dr. Richard Becker and his wife, Bunny. The couple have a passion for French wine that shows in their offerings, including the Bordeaux-like Chevaux Noir, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and the Estate Reserve Petite Sirah.

Wines are available for purchase, along with a huge selection of lavender-scented and flavoured items, many from the lavender farm the Beckers also run.

• • •

Four days after the storm, the snow is a distant memory; it’s a balmy 23 C (well, balmy to me — I am conspicuously alone in the rooftop infinity pool at the gorgeous St. Anthony Hotel, a downtown San Antonio property immaculately restored to its elegant glory days but with all the sleekest modern amenities).

It’s the perfect weather for a guided bike tour of the Mission Reach of the city’s famed river walk, led by Michael Gramley of the San Antonio River Authority (SARA). This 13-kilometre leg, completed in 2013, runs past the city’s missions, classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

SARA offers both kayak and bike tours, as do other local companies. The city’s B-Cycle bike-share program also has stations all the way along the route.

The Mission Reach been carefully cultivated to bring back native species of plants and trees along its banks and its wildness is a total contrast to the landscaped loop that runs through downtown. (A more groomed stretch, the Museum Reach, runs north, passing museums, including the Witte and the San Antonio Museum of Art, as well as the not-to-be-missed Pearl Market.)

As we cycle leisurely along the paved pathway, Gramley points out a blue heron and an osprey soaring above the water, while cormorants dive for fish. This abundance of fishing birds is a testament to the work of the river authority, as it heralds the return to health of a river that hasn’t always thrived.

I could happily have spent all day perusing the pathways to the various missions, but I have a date with a plate of crab tinga tacos. However, that just gives me a reason to visit again next year, when San Antonio will be celebrating its tricentennial with a year’s worth of special events. Visit sanantonio300.org to find out more.

Jill Wilson travelled to Texas courtesy of Visit San Antonio.

jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @dedaumier