Tropical Vacation at Home

While local and seasonal remains my ideal in the kitchen, sometimes I want what I want (to badly paraphrase Meg Ryan's Sally Albright).

A morning forecast of another lake effect snow dump headed our way and more days of very cold weather was followed by a trip to the doctor's office perusing the waiting room travel magazine featuring photos of India and the beaches of Uruguay. Afterwards, I arrived at Oryana forgetting why I had stopped there. So, with no shopping list in hand, I let myself be seduced by the tropical sirens in the produce section. I left with a mango, a bunch of bananas, two ripe avocados, a large bundle of cilantro and a lime. I'm imagining the places where these were grown, all far away. Oryana is very good about labeling produce with the country of origin, so I know the mango was grown in Ecuador. I've been following the adventures of the GoBe girls on their sustainable chocolate tour of Ecuador and wishing I had gone along. Instead, I raise my glass of mango lassi in their honor.

Yes, the mango went into the blender with a little too much yogurt, some Shetler's milk to thin, a generous squeeze of local honey and a few cardamom pods. The avocados were mashed with the juice of half the lime, a large handful of cilantro, a sprinkle of sea salt and a few spoons of minced purple onion. And voilá! Lunch is served.

I feel better now.