By Becca Hensley
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, September 14, 2008

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Guanajuato — If it weren’t for the fervor created by the rapid movement of Doña Lolita’s dry, brown hands, I might think her a wooden effigy, an extant wooden statue survived from another time. Except for those spurts of energy, she sits still and almost expressionless.

Hunched over on a stool in the crowded, aromatic fruit and vegetable market, just steps from the historic main plaza here, she furrows her brow just a bit. Clad in black, she rubs doughy balls between her palms, then sets each perfectly formed piece on a plate, before pinching more from a bucket and beginning the process again. Only when each ball is finished does her expression soften, yielding to triumph at a job well done.

“¿Que hace Usted? (What are you making?)” I ask, wondering what she makes with such
intensity.

She grins a toothless smile.

“Pipiano,” she says, handing me a spicy smelling clump of dough. Then, she gestures and shows me how to form the ball. While I attempt to do what she makes look easy, she tells me about the ingredients.

“Ground ancho chile and pumpkin seeds. It’s for making mole.”