When life gives you mangoes; make a smoothie

Our neighbour has a humongous mango tree which provides great shade to sit under when while we watch the children splash and frolic in the pool. It also supplies everyone with an enormous quantity of delicious sweet tropical fruit. The months of June and July are known as prime mango season in Barbados. (June to November is also hurricane season; more on that later.) There are so many ripe yellow and orange fruits in a short space of time that we don’t have to compete with the monkeys to get them. Ripe mangoes are juicy, fleshy, and delicious. The problem is, they all come at once. And eating too many mangoes can cause digestive issues. (We learned this the hard way after feeding our pet turtles fresh mangoes. After a few days, we noticed that their enclosure was smellier than usual. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that tortoises can get the runs.) When life gives you too many ripe mangoes, you learn how to make a mango lassi. Keep reading to discover our special recipie.

We are every so thankful for our generous neighbour who offloads his surplus mangoes on us. I drive over to collect as many as I can. First, my son helps sort them: the hard ones go in the fridge, the green ones are wrapped in newspaper and placed in a dark cupboard to ripen, finally, the soft ones are cut into cubes and stored in the freezer. I think we have a good reserve to last us several months. Our neighbour, a friendly Dutchman, calls again and asks: “Would you like more fruit? The problem with the impeding hurricane is that there are already too many fallen mangoes and the rain and wind are sure to make even more fall off the tree.” Thankfully, we have 5 hungry guests staying with us who are eager to sink their teeth into free fresh mangos. I agree to a fresh batch, I reason to myself that it’s all part of our storm preparedness plan.

This is our first experience of a tropical storm in Barbados. We were advised to stock up on basic supplies such as food and water. We hope for the best but prepare for the worst. By late morning, tropical storm Beryl is upgraded to a level 3 hurricane. The adults anticipated being cooped up inside the house for several days; at present, the children outnumber the adults 5-4.

On the afternoon before the storm is expected to hit Barbados, we decide to take the kids down to the beach to let off some steam. We leave the men in charge of seccuring any large objects that might fly about in the wind. The work together to move as much as possible of the outdoor pool toys and furniture into the house. Down at Dover beach, the water is remarkably calm. A few hardy tourists splashed in the salty water and doze under parasols; slowly turning tomato red. Did they know about the storm headed our way we wondered.

The kids had a blast building sandcastles and motes, their instinctive hurricane preparedness plan involved all sorts of forts with reinforcements. On our way back home, we decided to stop at the local small grocery store for a popsicle treat. The store was bustling, and the lines were busier than usual. Tourists vacationing at nearby hotels were stocking up on their version of essentials some examples include: prosciutto and yogurt, sparkling water and rum cake, TP and bananas, etc. Not to be left out, I grabbed four extra cartons of milk and a medium size bottle of Mount Gay white rum. In short, the essentials for the children and the adults. This all came to the perfect conclusion after the storm had passed. In the blender we mixed mango pulp, milk, ice and a splash of white rum which made for our version of a spiked mango lassi. The perfect drink to help us all unwind after a stressful stormy night.

*It is not my intention to make light of hurricane Berly which changed course and thanfully spared Barbados. I chose to use humour for release in this stressful situation. My heart goes out to the victims of the storm in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Jamaica, and now Mexico.

What is your hurricane/tornado preparedness plan?