Do you ever have one of those days where everything just comes together without even trying? It has something to do with fruit being ripe and in season. Like perfect mangoes.
I had a perfect mango encounter last Friday.
I was going to meet up with some friends for a “dp” (dinner party) in the neighborhood. I texted my friend Nate to see when and where.
Me: Dp tonight? Heading home now.
Nate: Sure. But I’m also up for going to free Fridays at the museum of fine art and eating here (I’m here now — it’s great)
So that’s how I ended up at the Chihuly: Through the looking glass exhibit at the MFA.
Just like that. I wandered over there and then wandered in, because it was free and all.
Woah.
I’d been wanting to see this exhibit. All the shapes and colors sent my imagination spinning in cartwheels.
We considered pausing in the museum restaurant and having a meal there, just because it was a cool space to be at the moment. But there was already momentum heading for Nate’s kitchen. What should we make? In a moment Nate declared he was going to roast a chicken. I started rattling off a salad: mango, avocado, blue cheese….
In 10 minutes Nate was on his bike weaving through traffic and I was on the bus listening to Jack Johnson on my iPhone.
By 7 we had gathered. Rebecca brought lettuce from her garden. And we all got to work.
The salad was perfect. All I did was cut up fruit, tangy and sweet, and add the creamy blue cheese with the crunch of almonds.
It was so good that when I bumped into Nate on July 4 in the dark at a gathering of fireworks watchers I wasn’t surprised when he said, “Remember that salad you made? I’m still thinking about it.”
Me, too.
Mango Summer Salad
Head of fresh lettuce
2 mangoes, diced
1 peach, diced
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil, optional
Assemble ingredients in a bowl. Top with blue cheese and almonds.
The juice and oil from the citrus and avocado is enough. You almost don’t need to dress this salad at all. Trust me.
Kitchen Report 
Dale Chihuly’s work is totally awesome. I almost saw an exhibit by him in Boise some years ago. It would open the day after I was leaving town. Found it out while at the museum, which was partly closed while they were installing his show. Well, there was an entrance with a black curtain…. needless to say I did take a loong peek ;o)
And when are you coming to tropical lands to eat fresh mangoes, bananas, açaí, acerola, guava, jabuticaba, the-count’s-fruit, etc etc etc? :o)
I have an old mango-ice-cream recipe, wanna try? It’s delicious!
Yes! I’d love to get your recipe.
Recipe duly posted at the Recipe Swap. Added a Vanilla icecream as bonus. 🙂 Feel free to edit the English, I’m not used to translating recipes into English, so I don’t know all the proper kitchen terms. My kitchen vocabulary is restricted to Portuguese and German 😉
The salad sounds great, and the dp sounds even better. I love having everyone working together in the kitchen.
Isn’t that the best? Nothing beats friendship to make a meal taste delicious.
Yummy! A little late reading, but sounds good – I wonder, would gorgonzola work just as well as blue cheese because I don’t really like blue cheese?
Thanks for bringing us fresh ideas!
Mangoes are gret, and now is the season to eat them, unfortunately, my Nutritionist order me to abandon them for a while.
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