Throughout the summer, access to fresh and local produce has been offered in several locations around Sacramento, but the change of the season means less availability as many farmers markets close until May or June. The remaining markets for the year: Open All Year Sacramento Central Certified Farmers’ Market Eighth and W 8 a.m. to noon Sunday Sacramento Florin CFM Florin road and 65th St 8 a.m. to noon Thursday Sacramento Country Club Plaza CFM Watt and El Camino Avenues 8 a.m. to noon Saturday Open through October Sacramento Chavez Plaza CFM 10th and J streets 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday Del Paso Heights CFM Norwood Avenue and San Juan Road 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturday Natomas CF

Tamales of many flavors were featured at today’s 7th annual Sacramento Tamale Festival.   The festival, sponsored by KSFM, filled downtown’s Cesar Chavez Park with tamales, burritos, sno-cones and a variety of entertainment.  Aztec dancers, music, piñatas for the kids and a scheduled performance by the singer Royalty added to the festival’s offerings. First-time festival patron Terri Ortega heard about the event several years ago when her cousin won first place in the tamale-making contest.  Terri decided to come to the festival today to “see what it was all about”.   Carrying several bags of purchased goodies, she noted that it is “beautiful here and everyone is enjoying themselves”.  

Traditions are passed on from generation to generation and each adds a new twist to keep them going. Does your family have a tradition? Holidays are full of traditions as well and as family gets together, to celebrate the holidays, these customs continue. Traditional dishes are also passed on through generations depending on what country or part of a country you live in. One of these traditional dishes is thousands of years old and started way before Europeans came to the Americas. The tamal (singular) or tamales (plural) was a staple of several Native American civilizations. There are many ways to make this dish and this weekend Spanglish Art conducted a How to: Tamales Workshop at its