mango salad and the year of the sloth
In recent weeks, whenever I mention how incredibly lazy I’ve been as of late, my mother will respond with, “well, of course! After the year you’ve had?” And then she’ll go on to talk about how I went back to school, worked, and did all sorts of other things that I don’t really recall doing. All the while she’s nodding and furrowing her brow. At first, I agreed. I mean, I was really tired. There were days when the thought of pulling down my pants, only to have to pull them back up again when going to the bathroom, was almost too much to bear. But after a few weeks, I began to feel kind of guilty about doing absolutely nothing of worth.
EXAMPLES
movita: I should clean my house. Or move that pile of papers to that other table.
Rosie Beaucoup: You shouldn’t be worrying about a dirty house right now. Not after the year you’ve had! You should be resting! My goodness. You need to decompress!
movita: Sorry I missed your call. It’s just that the phone was all the way on the other side of the room.
Rosie Beaucoup: I shouldn’t have called. After the year you’ve had? Working, going to school, homework? Not to mention the challenges of changing careers! My goodness! It would be too much effort to walk across the room.
movita: Can you hand me that stick? I can’t reach the remote and I want to turn on the tv.
Rosie Beaucoup: Of course! After the year you’ve had? Frankly, I’m surprised you even managed to get that stick into the house.
Last weekend, 2.0 and I were visiting The Beaucoups, and after hearing Rosie defend my laziness for the millionth time, I asked just how long she felt this would be an acceptable excuse. And she said: one year.
movita: ONE YEAR?! From…
Rosie Beaucoup: Graduation.
I’m pretty sure 2.0 died a little.
So, friends, let’s hear it for the Year of the Sloth. Here’s to doing nothing until June 18, 2014. Here’s to awesome mothers. And here’s to making the move to adult diapers to save myself the trouble of fiddling with pants.
Know what? This salad doesn’t require a lot of effort. Especially if you get someone else to make it for you. Then you’ve just gotta figure out how to get it into your mouth. It’s tangy and refreshing. The red onion and pepper add a nice crunch. The mango? Sweet goodness! It makes a lovely lunch, or you could have it alongside the dinner someone else makes for you one night.
I’ve almost got enough energy to high-five myself. But I know Rosie would rather I rest.
. . .
Mango Salad
recipe: from Canadian Living, with adjustments to the notes
Serves 4-6 as a starter or side.
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 teaspoons granulated white sugar
- 4 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (such as canola)
- 1/4 teaspoon Asian chili sauce or hot pepper sauce
- 2 large, ripe mangoes (not too soft), cut into thin slices
- 1 sweet red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1/3 cup chopped toasted cashews or peanuts
Mise en place – begin by getting organized. Measure out all of your ingredients. Toast the nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden and fragrant (about 5-8 minutes), and allow to cool. To prepare the mangoes, cut the pointy ends off and set each mango on its end to cut. Using a sharp knife, cut off the peel, cutting as close to the flesh as possible. Then remove the flesh of the mango and cut into thin strips.
In a large bowl, whisk together the coriander, mint, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, oil and chili sauce.
Add the mangoes, red pepper and onion; toss to coat.
Sprinkle with roasted cashews/peanuts before serving.
This explains a lot. You poor dear. Your widdle fingies must be super tired from all that typing… NOW SUCK IT UP AND GET BACK TO WORK!!! Just kidding, that was selfish. Take all the time you need. Plus the fall TV season will be starting soon and obviously that’s going to take a lot out of you. But I hear that mangos give you energy, so hopefully you’ll be Ok. 😉
As long as the mangoes give me enough energy to watch tv, we’re golden.
will you stop being so adorable?
your faithful follower
and mango lover,
teri ———x
It’s really tough to dial back my adorability.
I hope you trained a monkey or small child to type this up for you
Cripes! Why didn’t I think of that?
Oh yah. I’m too lazy to think.
You could just stick you face in the bowl and munch? Too much? IV? Never be afraid to make that 911 call if you really need to, pulling up pants is what paramedics live for. They love it.
See? That’s just another reason to make the move to diapers: I’d be helping out the healthcare system!
Girl, you deserve it. I think 2.0 will survive a year of foot rubs and helping you in and out of your pants. I’m going to have to suggest this idea to my family. Three years of school/work should buy me at least two years, right 😉 This salad looks amazing.
Yes, you have at least 2 years of laziness ahead of you. You might want to consider how to deal with your atrophied muscles. Maybe pay someone to work out for you?
I’ll send you my mother’s number. She wakes up at 4:00 in the morning to go run 5 miles. Also, she never wastes time cooking when there are Lean Cuisines to be had.
Good tip. Not the running, of course. The frozen dinner part.
I’m glad you took a break from sloth to share that lovely recipe. Now get back to rest!
Well, my fingers ARE sort of tired…
I want a Rosie in my life.
Everyone does. Rosie’s are very supportive and relatively easy to care for. Maybe check on Etsy?
LOL – I could use a year of slothing, but sadly I don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve it. You DID have a pretty busy (and badass) year, but I can hardly say the same… dreading the thought of having to pull down my pants is just normal for me, I guess.
You know, Willow, a lot of people don’t feel comfortable talking about “the pants issue.” They really are a pain in the rear. Up, down, up, down. Cripes!
On a related note, The Beaucoups got a new toilet this year which can only be described as a throne. It is very high, so you barely have to bend your knees to sit down. It the best toilet EVER. And now I’m secretly hoping 2.0 and I will have to replace ours in the near future…
This salad sounds totally delicious and refreshing. I love mango. Enjoy your year of the sloth!!! 🙂
Thank you for understanding my need to be sloth-like. Your support is very much appreciated.
Oh, you never cease to make me laugh! Hey, you had the courage to pursue something you are passionate about and good at, so more power to you. That mango salad looks deelicious. I always end up ordering som tam and mango salad at Thai restaurants. They are just so good!!
Let’s face it, if it’s Thai, it’s good.
So, so good.
This is SUCH a gorgeous salad and I love love love mangoes. And red peppers. And the dressing/vinaigrette sounds so good! In my 2010-ish archives I have a recipe for a red pepper and mango and corn salad with lime juice. I can’t even go bear to look up my old recipe b/c the pictures are…not exactly pleasing to my eyeballs. Lol 🙂
Gorgeous salad – how light and fresh! I’m a total lazy arse at the moment. blogging so infrequently 🙁
This looks so fresh, loving the colors! I would love this for lunch 🙂
I have also used this summer as an excuse to be extremely lazy. I have sat on my butt on the couch with a box of crackers more times than is polite to mention in mixed company. However, school starts tomorrow, and I will be right back to being angry and exhausted soon. Maybe if I made more salads, I would feel better about this.
I plan to get back to being angry and exhausted as soon as possible. It’s only right.
Hahaha, I love your mom. I was wondering if there was a little wee bit of sarcasm in her comments.. but no, she is a wise woman! Enjoy your rest and you’ll come back stronger than ever. Lovely salad!! So pretty!! And ask 2.0 to do the dishes after he serves it to you. xx ps and no to the diapers, just no.
No sarcasm. Rosie is very serious about this Sloth Time. Like, way serious.
So, I guess no diapers. Party pooper…
hahaha, you totally deserve a year of laziness!! You DID have a hard year and don’t let anyone tell you differently (even if your hard year did include tasting all sorts of deliciousness on a daily basis).
This is the thing, Amy. When people hear that you spent the year at baking school? They don’t feel so bad for you…
I’m currently half way through my graduate degree and I can feel the lazy creeping in on me. I’m ready to embrace it whole heartedly.
Thanks for an always great read. Enjoy letting your inner sloth out.
Um, Lori? Please try not to sloth (it’s a verb now) until you are finished with school. Maybe eat more butter and sugar to help with the final push?
Oh how I love when you talk about Rosie! Enjoy your slothful days – I need to take a cue from you 🙂
Haha laziness is the best – embrace it 😀
I love this salad, it looks so delicious!
Glad to be back!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
After having the same sort of year, my parents are asking every day about my ‘business plans’, not ‘potential jobs’ or ‘career prospects’, no, ‘business plans’. I’d quite like Rosie to be telling my parents that I can have a year out!
Maybe create some fake business plans and concepts? Throw your folks off for a bit? For example, get really excited about a zoo based catering business. Talk a lot about how there will be lots of customers there, and if you run out of meat? Well, that would never happen at a zoo…
Be lazy all you like! After the year you’ve had? You deserve it! Hehe, moms are great. And so is this salad.
Thanks, Ashley!!
A whole year of sloth!? After the year you’ve had, you’ve earned it!! 😉
Thanks for your approval, lady!
This looks so wonderful and fresh.
moms are the BEST when it comes to justifying your laziness/lack of motivation/inability to do even the most basic of tasks. They can rationalize the crap out of anything and make it sound like you are doing exactly as you should be doing, right at this moment, even if you are in bed at 4 pm. My mom’s version of “after the year you’ve had!” is “you just had a baby!” which lasted for a year and has now morphed into variations like “you have a baby!” and “you have a very active small child!”
i don’t know what happens when Stella hits full-time school, but my mom will think of something.
If I thought you’d get out of your chair for the FedEx guy, I’d ship one of these slothy t-shirts to you. http://www.zazzle.com/sloth+tshirts
I so want one of those shirts.
But don’t really have the energy to order one.
I want a stick.
I want a Rosie.
And I want a Movita.
Even if she is a sloth.
I’ve been lazy for such a long time and don’t even have much of an excuse – the last time I was really busy was back in 2011. Oops. I love this vibrant salad, can’t wait till summer arrives over here!
no one ever made lazy sound so good! The mango salad looks yumm.. I love all things mango!
You have some amazing food photography here! Just discovered your blog- it´s truely inspiring!
All the best (:
http://bakingmakeshappy.wordpress.com
WHAT?! This is the best. Thanks so much!
Yum! This takes me back to my trip in Cambodia with Habitat for Humanity! We ate at a place called Friends – they served the most delicious mango salad i’ve ever had.
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