I know the high water on the road routine far too well to scoff at your situation..
After reading many, many recipes for tamales, I've figured out why so many dislike them...........they think tamales are those spicy concoctions found in a can and have no clue what a real tamale tastes like. They're time consuming to make - but to me worth every bit of it!!!!
A friend of mine and I make tamales near Christmas-it is a tradition here at that time of year-hubby 's dislike of tamales extends to other things, too-he doesn't like meat wrapped up in anything, like pot pies or sausage rolls but will eat a sandwich or hot dog-I've never figured out what that was about...