I think it is safe to say that we have plenty of mangoes at the moment. Lots and lots. And we just can't seem to get enough of it either.
Summer equals mangoes in this part of the world. And mostly we just like them as they are: Ripe and juicy, eaten sliced with the juice dripping down your arms. We really go through dozens in a season. And often that is what we will have for lunch on any given day.
But occasionally I get to safe a few and do something with it in the kitchen too, apart from slicing it and eating it myself.
It was my turn recently to take eats to an orchid meeting, which always seems to happen at times when time just does not seem to exist. I needed a cake and fast. I thought of a Nigella cake I once made with orange pulp and just knew that mango will be a good substitute. The beauty of using mango though is, that you need not boil anything beforehand as with the orange. Just slice (and don't eat) and process.
This is the kind of cake you can get your kids to make on a sunday for tea. Really simple, yet fruity and moist.
I didn't bother with too many new year's resolutions for 2011. If 2010 taught me anything, it would have to be that life can sometimes just happen and will take all your best resolutions and intentions with it. So this year I've decided to go for a slightly less rigid approach and my only resolution was to make more time for the simple things in life. To live in the moment and to stop from time to time to take it all in.
Just potter around with the kids.
Stroll through the garden and look at the flowers, not the weeds.
Stare at the clouds or the mountain for a few minutes.
Be more spiritual.
And make time for breakfast. Not the bacon and eggs, full-house kind. Just something simple and easy. I use to operate on breakfast but lost the habit somewhere along the way. Not sure why or how, but I have a sneaky suspicion it just sort of happened in the midst of all the morning chaos of getting everybody else ready for the day.
So yesterday, I made a batch of muesli and this morning I spent a few minutes outside with M and our new puppy. Just eating and pottering and enjoying the cuteness of both M and the Beagle.
We named the puppy Bonga, which sort of mean thank you in the Zulu as we thought we had so much to be thankful for and because the kids could not stop saying thank you when she arrived.
And she could not resist the muesli either. But then again at the moment she cannot resist most things. Shoes, carpets, toys, just about anything get chewed. And we love her more for it.
