One hundred and twenty tamales and two sessions at the local makerspace later, I have achieved a better masa consistency than ever, learned how to maintain and operate a CNC machine in relative amounts of safety, and been read in on safety and operations at the makerspace in general. Not entirely in that order.
Some notes from this Bay trip:
Appropriate omnivorous masa consistency involves copious lard, maseca, and pig foot stock. It looks like evil buttercream. Vegan masa involves copious Crisco, maseca, vegan stock, extra salt, sauteed and pureed mushrooms, caramelized onions, onion powder, garlic powder, etc. And it still won't have the same consistency or flavor, but it's close enough for government work. Probably next time I'll seek out more sources of umami - kombu or something, but these were close enough for government work.
Either way, I only got the consistency I prefer from the omnivorous tamales: only pig feet in the above list provide gelatin, which causes the tamales to set nicely. I'm sure there's some way to do this with the vegan method, but Crisco ain't it. I may do more research. I may toss it to the actual kitchen lead who owns vegan meals anyway. They're certainly more creative on that end than I am. I know pig parts. I make decent greens. Vegan stuff I am decidedly mid at.
Anyway. One of my hosts smoked a very nice brisket overnight: we tore this up and stuck it in the meat tamales. Smoked meat tends to take over the flavor of anything else, but the other host, his partner, deemed them excellent in the morning. Mission accomplished, we've made at least one Burn meal - perhaps two if we pair it as we should with beans, rice, perhaps a nice braised green for nutrition.
Shop safety class was a shop safety class. Don't know what more to say there: one hour of being read in on air handler operation and safety, the virtues of leaving a shop better than we found it, use of their Slack integration, which tools we can touch, not putting metal-containing wood through saws, etc. It was fascinating, but that doesn't necessarily translate well in text.
CNC (Computer Numerical Control) class was fun. This particular one was a Milwaukie router plus attached computer on a gantry rolling along a 4x8 foot steel work table. There were about six of us students - five from camp, one extra who seemed somewhat intimidated by the five of us, unfortunately. Did not think to invite her to camp. Perhaps we'll see her again.
We learned about the programs for creating patterns for the CNC machine, and the sorts of concepts we'd need to think about - and a whole lot about bits. Our instructor was very enthused about the varying bits and showed us a large bit collection. We digressed multiple times talking about different bits and their uses, up cuts, down cuts, compression bits, the anatomy of bits, ideal material for bits, cheap sources of bits, expensive sources of bits. We also discussed McMaster-Carr, which I'm trying to forget the existence of for the sake of my budget. At the end, we learned how to attach and detach bits, operate the machine, operate the machine safety, set x y and z zeros, measure properly at the table, operate the gantry, measure onto wood appropriately, and how to securely fasten boards to the table lest physics do its work.
My brain is full of CNC and tamales, and logistics. There is ever more to learn. I'm exhausted and thrilled. Tonight I fly home to Portland, where I've resolved to spend a day choring around the house, petting cats, and perhaps getting a nice dinner.
Spring is here. Summer keeps on coming on.
In the words of my friend Geri, onwards!