Apparently you’re not supposed to start a story with a negative but HELLO, I have gotten this far in my writing journey and we’ve been okay. I don’t recall any time I stopped reading something because it started with a negative thought. In fact, that type of energy tends to pull me in. Challenging common held ideas is a mainstay of progress. I want to know what you don’t like. If we can be friends despite that, WOW amazing. Sign me up for more negatives.
I’m breaking more rules today by declaring that I don’t want to write recipes like I have thus far. Maybe it’s a summer thing or maybe it’s a dead father thing but I don’t want to do things “like I’m expected to”. I’ve been following almost every food blog “rule”. Clear titles, notes before recipes, recipes with measurements in metric and the wrong way, tags, trends, seasons. It’s all very stifling for creativity, if you ask me. The way I cook is 90% akin to the way I blog. That 10% is where I let myself fail, break rules and whatever else. I think that margin needs to be more 50-50.
In my quest to perfect recipes for the dotcom, I have been missing out on becoming the cook I want to be. I can’t possibly share everything I make. It’s not because I’m not proud of it. It’s just because I love to riff. Having everything I make with blog as my goal does nothing but stifle me. That’s not to say that I have faked this love for whatever I have cooked and shared so far. They are just really great glimpses of what I’m capable of. I know I’d like to see more of her. I made a promise that I would.
It might mean less recipes from me but it almost might mean more ideas I can use in the future. I absolutely love it and feel my most confident when I can make a recipe without the internet, using my intuition. Since it’s summer, I don’t need any excuse to dive right into the canvas. The inspiration is already alive and the fruit is just waiting for my labour. The recipes you’ll see for a while will be low-key, hands-on and just whatever in a really, really good way. Be prepared for drinks, feelings, over-ripened fruit crushed with your bare hands, memories and lots of love.
Are you ready? Let’s do it.
Mango michelada
A michelada, or my cold beer, is a beer cocktail famous in Mexico. Depending on where you go, you’ll see different versions of this drink. All of them will include a cerveza (beer) and lime. The reason I wanted to make it was because I was thinking about squishing a mango into a beer and wondered if it had been done before. Of course it had! In Mexico! They use tomato juice or Clamato as the main flavour base before dousing in the salty, spicy, sour flavours.
I asked one of my friends, Adela about the drink before I made it. She said there were two main kinds of micheladas – east coast and west coast. She grew up with the east cost ones and in her drink she uses “Worcestershire sauce, Maggi sauce, tons of lime, Clamato (tomato juice), Cholula (hot sauce), San Luis hot sauce, salt and Tajin chili powder“. She likes hers super sour, with tons of lime and her sister likes hers more spicy. She said that West coast ones are just beer, lime, salt and a tiny splash of Worcestershire sauce.
The fact that this drink is so adaptable to individual palates made me like it even more. It reminded me of a juicy plate of fruit chaat in the Bombay summer. A pile of fresh fruit sprinkled with chilli, salt and chaat masala. I live for this type of food. On that note, make yourself a michelada. Use a whole ripe mango, plenty of lime, hot sauce and beer. Don’t sweat if you don’t have all the flavourings. Make it the way that feels good to you. I wanted a mango, maybe you want a watermelon? Whatever you use, don’t forget to cheers Mexico for another genius cocktail that also masquerades as a proven hangover cure.
Ingredients
Serves 1
- 1 ripe mango (or ripe fruit of choice. Tomato is a fruit too)
- 1-2 limes
- Hot sauce
- A pinch of salt
- Ice
- 1 light beer
Cut the mango and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Don’t forget to squeeze around the seed to extract all that pulp as well. Drop all the pup to the bottom of a tall beer glass.
Squeeze the limes over the mango. Use one lime if you want it less sour and two if you want more. Give a few shakes of hot sauce into the glass, according to taste (mango+spice = heaven!). Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, add ice to the top and pour in the beer. Add more hot sauce if you want it spicy. Serve chilled and keep refilling beer and seasonings until you feel the hangover melting away.
