My ode to mangos last week rendered me incapable of passing the fruit without buying some. (Which, of course, is a pretty common occurrence around here.) I never had strong feelings about mango before I lived in Thailand. Now I love them more every day.
I ran yesterday morning and picked up these beauties before breakfast. All three cost 45 baht ($1.50). Why are we not eating them every meal?
Mangos – in salads, in chutney, in desserts, and in mango lassi – have been a dependable element in an April that has been disorienting. I haven’t talked about it here, but this month was the month that Frank and I had originally planned to leave Bangkok. Our work badges expire, our lease was supposed to be up, we had planned to spend April packing our things, stocking up on a lifetime supply of chili paste, and plotting our next move.
But something wonderful happened around Christmas. We were offered a chance to stay. Although we talked about it at great length, in the end we both felt good about staying a bit longer in Bangkok. My confidence that this is the right thing for us does not change the fact that some part of my brain saw this month as the end of a chapter. I was ready to turn the page and move on to the next thing.
Plans change. New opportunities present themselves. The unexpected happens. Just as our plans are a moving target, so too, are the lives of our friends here in Bangkok. The expat community is always changing. Good friends move on.
That last one has struck me more distinctly this month as I try to chart a course into the next couple years. I was having lunch yesterday with friends and our talk, as it often does, turned to plans and the future. Frank and I are so incredibly lucky to have friends here who we connect with on many levels, and whom (most rare of finds) we love to travel with! But the time will come when each of us moves away.
I’m not fond of change. It truly used to take weeks for me to adapt to a new picture on the wall, and I still gravitate towards what is familiar and safe. What helps me to push past that is the realization that some of the best things in my life have come from embracing and even seeking change. Life’s great adventures come when we step outside of what we know.
We discover places we never could have dreamed existed.
We make lifelong friends.
We eat sun-kissed mangos for breakfast.
Mango Lassi
Ingredients
- 3 cups cubed mango (from about 3 small mangos), or 8 oz. mango pulp
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 cup milk
- Sugar, to taste
Instructions
- Combine mango, yogurt, and milk in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Taste and add sugar, if needed. (If the mangos are quite ripe, you may not need any sugar at all.) If serving immediately, pour over ice in 4 small glasses or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Indeed. We feel quite permanent in our home in Sweden now, but the expat community, and our good friends here, are a transient thing. I know that two of my closest girlfriends here have plans to leave at some point. Not sure when, but it’s always a tender subject. I think we just need to live each day and enjoy where we are – especially for us, now that we’re racing towards near constant sunlight. And you with your mangoes. Yum!
You’re so right, Katie – and it’s really one of the best things that you learn from living overseas – adaptability. (Even though it means we have to say some sad goodbyes – boo.) Bring on the sun!
I absolutely love mangoes, this looks so delicious – thanks for the recipe!
Me too, Rosie – I can’t seem to get enough of them.
mmm this looks incredible Jess. I sit here typing this comment as I sip a homemade strawberry mango smoothie. Next time – it has to be a mango lassi 🙂
Sipping strawberry mango smoothie while working from home, right Sally!? Sounds pretty fantastic on all fronts!
Can I just say how jealous I am that you can get all these gorgeous mangoes?? haha The ones at our food store right now look pathetic! Change can be hard … but I’m starting to slowly learn that sometimes good things happen when things don’t go according to plan!
Mangoes all over the place, lately. This sounds so refreshing, Jess!
I keep seeing Mango Lassi recipes here and there, but I’ve yet to make one myself! I have the mangos though, so I honestly don’t know what I’m waiting for… I love mangoes! You’re so lucky to have such fresh ones available to you. 🙂
I love mango lassi and I don’t know why it never occurred to me to make some of my own!
You’ve hit the mark on a few of the dilemmas we expats have to deal with. One good thing about the recession a few years ago is that many of my Dubai friends ended up staying in Dubai longer than we all expected and we have been able to build on our friendship. But that also means it will be harder to say goodbye when the time comes.