When the Almond Tree Blooms

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...

Around this time last year I got sick. Ok, I admit, I wasn't really that sick. It was more that I hadn't taken enough time off from work during the past few months, my body was tired, and I was completely lost at my job. Zocalo, Cuidad de Mexico, January 2016 The timing for those days at home couldn't have been better. Not long after I became "ill", I saw a post from Remezcla on Facebook about streaming movies from the Morelia International Film festival for free.  I followed the link and as soon as I began watching the first film, I knew I had found something really good. In the company of a distinguished film critic (Mr. Roco), I consumed many bowls of Chicken soup and cups of tea, and I watched nearly all of the 2016 offerings. Caldo de Pollo, Estilo Peru Last year's films remain vivid in my memory. There was El Charro del Toluquilla , which was about a Mariachi singer in Jalisco living with AIDS; another film was set in a village in Chia...