today we have our annual christmas here combined in conjunction with cassia. you'll meet the judges next. this is your comunidad. the judges are now officially underway and casing the best darn tomale in the united states, and we do mean the united states because a lot of these came from across the country. let me introduce the judges for you who will tell you at the he wanted of this show who has the best darn tomale in the entire country. next to me is a three-time world boxing champion, current wbo champion, robert "the ghost,"

gilroy, california, and next to robert is former raiderette and she is munching away, and then next to her is mr. louis ochoa. he is from napa valley. he brought some of his wines, and we'll show them to you throughout the show. next toç him is a spanish worl champion, san francisco giant erwin. welcome all to the show. we do have a fifth judge, who is the tiebreaker. he calls himself the ringer. >> it's a secret. >> should we say? >> no, i think we should keep it a secret. >> we'll bring him out a little later. we'll bring him out. darlene is with cassia cue. here we are again, darlene. what annual is this for us? >> sixth annual. can you believe it? six years we've been eating tomales. >> we do have a list that we're going to show you where these tomales came from, and look at

that, darlene. texas, colorado, san jose, of course, los angeles. we have some from mississippi. >> san antonio, mississippi. we have, as you can see on the screen, quite a few from all over the nation. mississippi to california. everybody makes them a little bit different, you know. texas -- actually if we look at some of these in here, texas has these little tomales here. >> i that the everything was big in texas. >> the only thing little in texas is the tomale. >> we have these big tomales from colorado, and they actually wrap them in a tortilla, which is interesting. >> our secret judge called them burritos, because they're that big. >> they call tomacos, actually, but i think it should be called a tamaritto or tamonga. tamalonga. these are the normal tomales that you normally see, and then these are from new mexico. they make it with a half chile.

i'll show this on the next segment. these are wrapped in banana leaves, and then these are -- these are interesting. i just broke one right now. they're wrapped in parch meant paper. there's a company that makes goat tomales and deer meat tomales. he has a sweet tomale for next year, he says. some people wrap them up cute like this. >> i should have had my mom make them. she makes some ash tomales. she will build a fire and she grabs the ash and mixes it with i don't know what. they're very dry and bland and -- >> are you trying to tell me that you just eat them. >> i don't eat them because they're not really that good. it's very ancient. the aztechs used to eat them, but they're not for me. they're going into what category? loo right now the vegetarian. >> irwin is going through them very fast. >> i know.

>> they're real good. >> they're tasty vegetarian. >> they're tasting all vegetarian first. i'm a meat eater, but there are a few companies -- there's one company in particular, donna's tmoales in fairfax, california, marin county, is & she makes incredible veblg tarn and vegan tomales. you don't realize they don't have meat. there's such flavor and they're very filling. really, really good. there's five different companies here that they're tasting. >> i'm looking at this, and you got to pace yourself, i guess. >> the first thing i would do is turn glasses over and ru( some water in them because you're going to need to drink that water in between each tomale. they're going to be tasting 25 tomales in a very short period of time, in this half hour period of time. that's a lot of tomales.

>> you will find out who has the best tomale in each category. we have a minute left, but i want to talk about your annual ornament that you bring because you have the -- you have a pregnant mary? is that proper to say? >> yeah. >> you have a pregnant mary hanging. you have some mexican sweet bread. >> some katrina. we have rudolpho, carlo. with the pregnant virgin, yeah, people have gone, what, what? >> i don't know if people will be calling me and saying i said it wrong. >> actually, father rubio, another priest, i went to his office one day, and he had this beautiful statue of a pregnant virgin mary, and i just thought it was so striking. that's what actually inspired me. i tell people, you know, they have to remember it was emaculate conception, not emaculte pregnancy. >> we'll talk to them as they're

eating and tasting ask drinking water. we'll find out who has the best tomale in the country. they'll have the results posted on this website, and we're going to have a special showing of how to make -- coming up throughout the show. stay with us. ♪ [ female announcer ] yoplait's real fruit and the goodness of dairy... gives you a little slice of happy. and happiness cos in 25 decious flavors. explore them all. yoplait. it is so good. now the yoplait you love in a new four pack. try it today.

>> with me is one of the judges, tloo-time world champion. you brought your championship belt, your wbo championship belt. what's it like? what's that adrenaline rush like to get in that ring and knowing that you are going to kick that other guy's butt? >> it's exciting. you get in there and just to walk all the way from the dressing room until after the fight, i mean, it's just going. sometimes i don't even sleep until the next day. >> i want to do a special half hour with you at a future date if you agree to it because you did something -- you did something that has made me and every other husband look bad because of the sacrifice that

you made. >> there's an obligation to be -- i know when it does come down to somebody doing that, it's the right thing to do. >> you keep making me look bad. thank you. house your wife? >> she's doing great. she's probably mad because she wants to be here eating tomales. >> real quick, what are your thoughts going through all this? >> so far, i mean, it's competitive. it's competitive, and they're all good, so, you know, got to pick a champion out of all of them. >> former raiderette and former seniorita. what is it like to be on that

grand stage at the coliseum having those roaring fans and the black hole cheering and cheering you on and what's that like? >> well, it's an amaze being feeling. it's an experience you won't forget. anyone who wants to do it, definitely do it. definitely do it. i had a blast. it's something that once you are a part of, you are never -- you never get away from it. you have a saying once you become on the squad, once you're a raiderette, you are always a raiderette. i see the girls every single day, and the girls get on the squad, and we have dinner with them and welcome to the family because it's like a huge story. >> latinos are well represented. >> yes, they're very well represented. usually every year there's a coors girl that represents the raiders. how can we find you?

>> in between the -- >> it's -- >> can you just google -- >> you'll be welcome to visit us. >> i'm sure you've eaten tomales before. this isn'tç your first time. >> this is your first time eating tomales? >> well, not eating. i've been igt all the time. compare your wife's tomales to the ones you're tasting here? >> all good. when you taste tomales, everything is good, but here it's impossible to eat everything. >> we'll talk to you in a bit. irwin, you have five. you're going to go for five at this one. the world series -- >> yes, i did. yes, i did. it's amazing what the giants say. people might have said we saw this come, but they're lying to you.

after 52 years, it's worth waiting for. >> how do you think torture in espaniole because that's what the season is all about. >> they call it a box on the pitcher. >> it's for the pitcher, you see the runner at first base. i just -- irwin daniel. there are certain things in sports that you can't translate literally, so you have to adapt it and use the same terminology that's used in english because after all, you know, it's american pastime, so we have to use it, and then kind of explain to the fans what we're talking about. >> are you as angry that the rest of us that juan went to the dodgers? >> yeah, yeah. he is the reason why i'm going to get a fifth ring, so, obviously, for me it would have been okay if he goes to another team, but the dodgers?

come on. >> well, we're going to cheer him on his first at-bat, and after that he is going to get nothing but boos from us. >> we're going to talk to all these judges, both as soon as they are done with their eating -- they're going to let them eat right now. we're back after these messages and talk about how to make this at home, another family tradition for the holidays.

this is a year for our annual tomale tasting contest. is he from parsley, rosemary, and thyme. >> catoring firm, not a law firm. >> during the holidays, you always have leftover bread or cookied, muffins, and this is a great leftover dish that turns into something absolutely great. >> it's bread pudding? >> yeah, go ahead. >> basically the most important

thing is, of course, your bread, and you can use muffins. can you use anything you want. you just mix your bread. getting crazy with all the other ingredients. i have scrambled eggs here, and you put a little -- just egg in here. just anything else you want to put in there, and we're going to put some some brown sugar, and we're going to put a little canella, cinnamon, and then some raisins and some almonds. basically, there you go. go ahead and toss this. i'm going to add a little vanilla too. a good mixture of vanilla, and you want to put that in at the end so it doesn't just sop up on one or two different colonels of bread pudding. >> was it your vórkers or your upbringing that taught you how to make bread ph.d. sng i had no idea. i just eat it.

my mom makes it. >> a little bit of both. my grand father was a spaniard who moved to mexico and 25 years in mexico before coming to california. he brought a lot of european recipes along with mexican recipes and now we have this wonderful mix. >> that's all it takes. >> you let it soak. >> how long? >> i'm going to -- >> you can can put a little more milk in it. you can let it soak for 30 minutes before you put it in the oven. you go ahead and put it back into your thing, and then over the top we'll add the thing that makes this different than bread pudding, and that is the cup gets fresco or some kind of cheese. that adds a creaminess to it that's drives you crazy. then we'll put a little -- this will all settle in too. this is a little queso fresco here. >> how long in the oven? >> about 35 minutes in a 350 degrees. >> we'll give you the website to get that recipe, and that's the end product. >> this is the end product. there you go. >> the staff here at kntv loved it because they get to taste

some of this at the end of the -- look at this. once you open the lid, the aroma just came out. >> you know, this has a little red in it too because we used some red velvet cupcake that is were left over, and it -- like i said, anything you have in the kitchen that's sweet, go ahead and throw it in there. >> vince, parsley, sage, rosemarry, and thyme. it's the website. there is that recipe there. where else will you have the recipe? >> on our facebook. no way jose. >> all right. if you are looking at that music christmas music in the background, that's a christmas cd you can actually get that on i tunes. we'll find out who made the best darn tomale in the country. we'll find out.

>> carleen, where did you find this? >> rubin found it on facebook. we started listening to this song, and we got it. we were in the office all day. hot tomale. >> that's hilarious. we're here back on comunidad del valle, and here's our ringer, mystery judge. we needed his vote because there were some tie break hers, right? >> we had two tie breakers. >> all right. joe rodriguez, a columnist

reporter. joe, your thoughts on the 08 tomales or so that you went through today? >> they're good. some were quite spice country. even the way they looked. one looked like a burrito, and a couple looked like churros, but, you know, they were all enterprise and adventurous, and it was a real pleasure to taste all of them. >> you have the guava one, and you took a couple of bites, and it was delicious, and then you took a third bite, and then the guava kicked in. >> they had a lingering taste to them. >> the best once, you really taste the them a few seconds, maybe 30 seconds later. the taste just hung and hung, and it was just delicious. >> what sticks out in your mind? what's the best overall? >> i liked the barbecue chicken. it was part of the gourmet experimental category, and i'm a traditionalist. i usually go for, like, my nana's beef tomale sonora style, but this group's were really

good. >> thank you, joe. robert, three-time world boxing champion. what sticks out in your mind? you went through a lot of tomales, and i see a lot of high scores and low scores. >> there's a lot of different exotic ones, and some i never seen before, and the guava one was the best, i think. first bite i took, i was sold. just pretty much knocked me out. >> we'll talk to you again in just a minute. how about you? what sticks out in your mind? >> two of them stick out in my mind. the guava and cream cheese one. i highly recommend that one. that one instantly when i put it in my mouth, winner. then the vegetarian, which is funny because i love meat. i love beef, and so the vegetarian kind of blew me away, but the first one that we ate. i don't know what -- which one was that called? it's the burrito one. >> the tomaco. >> it was like a big burrito looking one. it's delicious. >> what's it like standing next to a twhof time world champion?

>> just don't, you know what i mean? >> i gave you an upper cut already. >> i can tell you one thing, they had exactly the same taste buds. they agreed on every single tomale. >> what sticks out in your mind? what do you think is the best one for you? >> well, this is the first time for me to test this many tomales, but the guava is really, really, really good. >> is it gert than your wife's? i'm going to get you in trouble. sthoo that is not open like that, but that one is really, really, really good. you know, i never taste that many tomales. we'll talk about your wine in a minute. irwin, what sticks out in your mind? >> it was very surprising.ç

>> it's going to be awesome. you are making me cry. >> it's recorded. >> we're hoping opening day. opening day 2011. we should be. >> congratulations. let's do it again. let's repeat. >> we have a cabernet zinfandel and a chardonnay. what made you get into the wine business? >> well, you know, aye been working for many, many years, and it's a grape growers, and one year that i couldn't sell the grapes, so somebody gave me a hand sxishgs just started making a little bit, and that's the way i start. >> we recommend -- >> we make it every year. >> we recommend every go out

there & buy a bottle of chardonnay and cabernet from your label. >> thank you. >> lucinda, former raiderette, and which one was summer competition? >> tougher competition? for me -- like i said, the vegetarian exactly what he had just said. the vegetarian, i was expecting the vegetarian -- no, they blew me away. that one was tough competition. i didn't know there were so many different kinds of tomales, so many different kinds from texas and, you know, wherever. the vegetarian blew me away as well. >> robert, are you going to be able to make weight after all the tomales? >> right now, no. i'm just hopefully my trainer isn't watching this. he is going to make me run an extra mile. >> what's next for you? who is next? this is it, man. this is big-time for you. >> yeah. i'm the number one contender. i'm fighting juan marquez. >> it's going to be a tough

fight. sthoo that's one of the biggest fights out there, and i'm number one contender, so pretty much i'm looking forward to it next year to get that championship. >> what do you think that will be, and how soon do you start preparing yourself? >> it should be somewhere around march if it does go through, and, you know, beginning of the year i'll start. >> a buddy of mine was a wrestler. before we met he walked into -- what do you walk into? >> i walk into a bunch of different stuff. i like to just -- you know, what moves me going to the ring, and one of the ones you walk in with is hefe the hefe. that song really gets me going. >> give your wife the best from us, and go get them. >> yeah. i will. you're a good man. class act here, and joe, one final thought on what you saw here today. >> well, i found an impressive array of tomales.

i'm really surprised that -- at the quality of all of them. they were all good.ç i hope to be back next year. maybe next year i should learn how to make my own tomales. probably the sweet and try gourmet. >> let's find out. we have about two minutes. >> okay. so in the vegetarian category, we have waly's tomales, and they were like this. it was the vegetarian within wrapped in a tortilla. then for the second category, which is home style chicken, we had lucy's tomales, which are these right here. chicken verde. these are the porta ones. they were made with the half chile. they're from santa fe, new mexico. the next category which was the gourmet, exotic, they were from corn maiden, and there was a barbecue chick sxen gouda cheese

tomale that won, and then i don't even think i need to say who won the dessert category. >> who made that guava one? >> they are from -- they are from mama's hot tomale cache in los angeles, and those are the guava and cream cheese, and that was unanimous across the board. everybody loved those tomales, and i loved mama's hot tomale cafe. they're actually a training program as well for people trying to get off the street and start a new life, so they train them and how to make tomales and stuff. there's a lot of love put in those too. >> is that all the winners? >> those are all the winners. then the grand tomale winner, was the guava and cream cheese. >> i thought it would be one of the more traditional ones. it really kicked in for everybody. next year we're going to go back. you have tentatively some good names, again, panel of judges, but we're going to surprise them later on. we can't say who they are, but we do have some amazing judges.

we thank you all again for coming down here and spending all this time down here and eating all these wonderful tomales and spending the joy of the holiday with us. we thank you all for sharing. rubin is also from gilroy. >> this is rubin. >> oh. zoom so this is rubin, and he works with me. he is a designer, and he is a tomale helper today. he got to eat all the tomales with me. for a month we literally ate tomales every single day. a couple tomale companies a month to help narrow it down. >> the close-up of the championship belt and the bottle from ochoa whinery. thank you for spending another part of your sunday with us once again on our annual christmas

tomale. happy holidays. thank you very much.