When the Almond Tree Blooms

Happy Holidays! I wanted to give a little update to all of you who’ve been reading my blog posts this fall. I’m going to drink some tea, write a little and listen to Drake’s Take Care . The album brings me back to the beginning of 2012, when I’d drive on I-5 into Sacramento, away from the loneliness of the rice farm where I worked to my unlikely haven, a financial accounting class at Sac City College. Winter Wheat at Sills Farms, January 2012 (I disced this field) I first started blogging in 2008, the heyday of blogs. I didn’t use social media much at the time, I had a facebook account I hardly ever checked and I didn’t get a smart phone until four years later. Blogging was a hobby, I’d post a few photos, write a paragraph about pupusas one week, or a blurb about The Wire or hiking in the Bay Area. I had fun with it, interacting with random people who stumbled across my blog and checking out their blogs. Uncle Marc's Christmas dessert, 2009 My blog morphed into a...

Did the food photo lure you to click on the link and find your way here? Those food pics we see on social media have a way of capturing our attention, and can spark a variety of feelings from disgust, curiosity and mild jealousy to “damn I need to eat that now”. This happened to me the other night, when I saw a photo of mole poblano and decided I had to get some. So, I found a highly reviewed taqueria on yelp in the Southwest Washington town of Chehalis that has mole on its menu. On Friday, after taking Roco out for his walk and fetch, I drove half an hour down I-5 to get some enchiladas en mole , which are my favorite food. Enchiladas en Mole, Taqueria Juquilita, Centralia WA  I first had mole many years ago when I was working as a garden and nutrition education teacher at Park School in Hayward, California. The school year was almost over, and I had been invited to the after-school program staff end of the year party. Mrs. Marquez, who worked for program, had cooked a b...