Holidays in Laredo, Texas

By Monica Andrade

The things that Laredoans associate most with any event, memory and/or holiday are the culinary treats which are widely influenced by Laredo’s Hispanic heritage. I surveyed CVB staff to see which delicious delights they look forward to, answers included menudo (a traditional Mexican soup), tamales (corn husk wrapped dough stuffed with anything from meats or cheese to fruits or vegetables), buñuelos (deep fried dough drenched in a syrup of various ingredients), hojarascas (traditional Mexican cookies), empanadas (baked or fried pastry turnovers filled with a variety of savory ingredients), and champurrado (a chocolate based corn flour drink). Call CVB for a recommendation on where some of these goodies can be found.

Those of you adventurous enough to Google a recipe to try to make it yourself, be sure to visit La India Packing Company at 1520 Marcella Avenue to purchase your ingredients. This family owned and operated company has been in business since 1924. You’ll be sure to find the various ingredients needed to make many of the above mentioned delights from Menudo Mix to Hojas de Tamal (corn husks for your tamales) to Piloncillo (brown sugar) for your champurrado!…

Also synonymous with the word ‘December’ is the word ‘Holidays’. One’s mind immediately brings the image of Old St. Nick… as it should! Make a trip to Mall Del Norte and commemorate this Christmas by taking a picture with Santa Claus (Mon-Sat 10am-9pm / Sun Noon-6pm). Santa can be found inside Mall Del Norte in front of Macy’s. Visit http://www.malldelnorte.com/holiday

And for those of you looking for events and family fun this month, catch any of the Christmas Events at our Public Parks (check Facebook Laredo Parks) We encourage you to visit the following websites for other event details: http://www.visitlaredo.com/, http://learena.com/, http://www.saborlaredo.com/events/, http://www.livinglaredo.com/

Monica Andrade works at the Laredo Convention & Visitors Bureau. Veteran of the team. Knows the ins and outs and the ups and downs of daily operations. A bit on the OCD side and is a Denny Hamlin fan.