Flutterby™! : Tamales

This weekend, I've promised Charlene that I'll do tamales. I've been winging this every time I've done it so far, but I'm going to start to take notes in the interest of coming up with repeatable processes. I have one Mexican cookbook that starts out every recipe with "a cup of lard", but this one uses a cup of olive oil, although I'm concerned that that much extra virgin olive oil will give a tannic taste, and I'm not sure high oleic safflower is the flavor I want, so I may have to get a more refined olive oil.

A Grilled California tamale involving basil, balsamic vinegar and goat cheese, and another recipe pushing the bounds of what vegetables I'd think were the right flavor for tamales.

[tee hee hee: The topic picker decided on Sexual Culture, presumably because of the "virgin" reference...]