November Life

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 bunch of homemade pollo en mole, served with rice. Mrs. Marquez had run a restaurant in Leon Guanajuato for a few years before she and her husband moved to Hayward. I had a great time eating delicious mole and hanging out with some of the great people I worked with at Park.

Park School Garden, Summer 2009

I worked at Park School for almost four years and when I finally left in February 2010 it was a very difficult farewell. The job had its ups and downs, but what kept me there so long were the relationships I’d built with the school community. By the time I left, the recession had hit hard: the number of students in poverty jumped, teachers got laid off and classroom sizes grew. It was a rough time for everyone.

Park School Garden, Summer 2009

Since that end of the year party at Park, I’ve eaten some damn good moles. One cold day in December, my Mom and I were trying to find a Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood of White Center, which is just south of Seattle. We couldn't find the one we were looking for and ended up eating at a place on16th Avenue called La Dona: Autentica Comida Poblana (which is closed, sadly). I remember having delicious enchiladas en mole filled with scrambled eggs and thinking about visiting Puebla, because why not go somewhere with food that good. Two years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Puebla and Oaxaca and while I was there, I tried some excellent moles. The tamal filled with pollo con mole I ate was especially memorable. More recently, I had some excellent enchiladas en mole at Anita's food truck on Aurora Avenue in North Seattle (next to the abandoned Black Angus motel).

Puebla, Mexico November 2015

I am by no means an expert of mole, but I do know that making a good mole is indeed an art and a process, and that recipes for mole are often unique to communities and families. I tried making a quick mole once and it turned out ok, but this is one of those dishes I will happily leave to the pros. Mole is one of the many beautiful things Mexico has given to the world and I am grateful to be able to enjoy it on occasion.

Mole Poblano

Mole, with its blend of flavors that include chocolate, chiles, bananas, peanuts, raisins and many other often secret ingredients, is an ideal antidote for the darkness and cold of November in the Pacific Northwest. The enchiladas en mole I had at Taqueria Juquilita in Chehalis were just that. The mole there is Oaxacan style, which is where the restaurant owners come from, and it was darker in color and less smooth in texture than the mole poblano. The mole oaxaqueno was chocolatey, but also fruity and spicy: I savored every bite. It was something unexpectedly delicious and wonderful to find on a quiet street in a small town halfway between Portland and Seattle.

Torta de Tamal Cholula Mexico November 2015

Besides looking at photos of mole, thinking about mole, driving to Chehalis for mole and then eating mole, I’ve been doing the usual stuff: work, writing, reading, going on walks with Roco. Saturday was a rare sunny day so I went hiking with Roco at Millersylvania State Park, about twenty minutes away from Olympia. It was a pleasant walk through mossy forests that ended at a lake, where Roco swam in the freezing cold water while I soaked up the sun. As beautiful as it was, I found myself missing those hikes I did last December in California that wound across grassy meadows and through oak savannas, under a blue winter sky. I say this not so much to complain about Washington but to encourage any readers from California to get outside and hike: Cronan ranch near Coloma is a great spot near Sacramento; I also recommend Briones, Morgan Territory and Sunol regional parks in the East Bay. All these are very dog friendly.

Millersylvania State Park

Millersylvania SP

Deep Lake

Hiking near Sacramento, December 2016

The November weather gives me plenty of time to do indoor stuff like writing and reading. I’ve been slowly working my way through Ta-Nehisi Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power. I’ve become familiar with Coates' work in the past year after the election when I had my “what the fuck is wrong with this country” moment and realized I needed to find new perspectives on human nature, race, gender and America. Since then I’ve tried to learn a bit about various topics especially neuroscience, human behavior, technology and history. Coates meticulously researches his essays and his prose is powerful. His conclusions can very be unsettling especially for people looking for hope in the form of “justice will always prevail” or some kind of “10 things you can do to save the world” list, but mostly I think they are spot-on. I would highly recommend this book, but be warned: I had to stop reading We Were Eight Years in Power before bed because it kept me awake at night.


Oh yeah, and I finally went dancing. A friend invited me to a social here in Olympia, and I had a blast.

One more thing, if you've read this far and have any thoughts to share, please leave a comment. I could always use suggestions for new topics to write about as well.