1. All these years I've been listening to rock music, have listened to a lot of old blues music, and heard endless references to the Mississippi Delta. I've even gone to the movie theater to watch documentary movies about the Mississippi Delta Blues and watched others at home. I'm embarrassed to say, though, that I never knew the geographical location of the Mississippi Delta.
But, today, as the focus of Rising Tide moved to the Mississippi Delta, for the first time in my 67 years of living and of loving acoustic blues music, I started to get the geography of this region straight in my mind. I'm also learning a great deal about the Mississippi Delta's fertility and how its potential for economic development excited the imagination of families looking to get rich. Building such prosperity depended on labor and on controlling the Mississippi River and so the plot of this history deepens as one land owning family, in particular, the wealthy and powerful Percys, try to replace Black workers with Italian ones, and as the river and its cycles of flooding continue to bedevil landowners.
2. Thanks to an online order, and the receipt of dried chipotle chiles, dried ancho chiles, a couple disks of Mexican chocolate, and a jar of almond butter, I could make my first ever batch of mole sauce today. I assembled the chopped onion and garlic, cinnamon, cloves, chicken stock (homemade), diced tomatoes, raisins, almond butter, and sesame seeds and got underway. It wasn't difficult. I toasted the sesame seeds and set them aside. I also toasted the torn up bits of chiles and also set them aside. Once I had cooked the onions, I stirred in the coarsely chopped pieces of chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, and garlic. I transferred these ingredients into a pot and added the chicken stock, tomatoes, raisins, sesame seeds, and almond butter, brought it all to a very low boil and let it simmer for about ten minutes or so. These ingredients began to thicken a bit and I transferred them into the blender and processed the sauce for about 20 seconds until smooth.
I got out a small pyrex pan, covered the bottom with sauce, submerged four corn tortillas in the sauce, and then filled the tortillas with the black bean, corn, and ground beef mixture I made a few days ago. I covered these enchilada looking creations with more sauce and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Next time, I'll cover this dish.
The sauce is good. As I move forward with other batches, I might increase the chocolate content a tiny bit. I very much enjoyed how it tasted in combination with the corn tortillas and the filling I had made. I think I can do a better job with keeping the tortillas intact and the next time I make this meal, I'll cover the dish in the oven. I think that will improve the texture of the sauce.
I have sauce left over. I see a wet breakfast burrito in my very near future.
Oh! By the way, I was out of grated cheese and didn't feel like going to Yoke's this evening. Next time I cook up a dish with mole sauce, I'll definitely include top any enchiladas or other entree with grated cheese.
3. Luna and Copper continued to make themselves at home in their new environment. I don't know how old they are. I can say, however, that they are cats of leisure. Luna spends a lot of time on my lap or on my outstretched legs while I read and nap. To accommodate her while I write on my laptop, I'm having to face sideways in the chair I sit in and place the computer on the arm rest of the other living room chair I've moved right next to my chair. I haven't yet held Copper, but I pet her. Copper loves sleeping on our love seat and he is tentative around Luna who can be territorial at times -- but, as I write this, they are both sacked out on the love seat (no territory problems) and when they eat in close proximity to each other, so far, they haven't spatted. Oh! One other detail: Copper likes looking out windows. He went to the top of the love seat today to look out the living room's east window and, from time to time, saunters over to the picture window facing south to scope out the scene outside the house.
I like how this arrangement is going.
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