Good Eats-Mangoes

When we first arrived in Hyderabad, my driver from the airport told me that mango season was just starting. Now, mangoes are my absolute favorite tropical fruit. Bill and I have the bar set pretty high when it comes to mangoes: they are all compared to "the ones we bought on the side of the road in St. Thomas." Just the mention of them causes a Pavlovian response for me. My first trip to the grocery store made me realize that were more kinds of mangoes than I had ever anticipated. There are some that are best for eating, best for pickling, best for chutneys, best for this and that, and best for juice.

The other day, our friend, Bill's co-worker, and Hyderabad native, Anjali brought us some mangoes that her dad had picked for us. One type was for eating, the other was for juice. Not realizing that there were 'juice' mangoes, I was very intrigued. The instructions were to wash the outside of the mango really well, massage it, pull off the stem, hold the mango up to your mouth and drink. Wow oh wow. Nectar from the gods! I started making sounds like my buddy Carmine does when he eats a meatball sub: Mmm...oh...MMM..ohhh... Not wanting to overdose on enjoyment I squeezed the remaining pulp from the pit, and squeezed another full mango into a cereal bowl. The bowl was full(!) from the juice of 2 mangoes. Heaven...I'm in heaven... Then to save it for later, I poured my sweet mango elixir into popsicle molds, dropped in some craft sticks and popped the molds into the freezer. Frozen fresh squeezed mango-pops...life is good.

Play imitates Life

I had some chuckles last night and this afternoon watching the girls play. Last night Cory decided that she would clean the apartment, and play 'Maid'. This afternoon Doctor Cory & Doctor Sammy were tending the wounds of their stuffed animals. Then they'd rush into another room with the cry "she's bleeding she's bleeding" (meaning a stuffed kitten/dog/monkey and tend another one.

I guess the things that have made an impression on them is the frequency of seeing someone else come to clean, and our urgent trip to the hospital for Cory's knife wound.

I need it now...

During the past few months I have gotten into the mindset to bargain shop. I have a few friends who are experts at finding the best bargains by using coupons, store reward dollars, outright research, and anything else they can think of. They'll get the best deals on groceries even if it means going to several grocery stores in one day. I was certainly awed by their success and had made attempts to economize as well. most notably at CVS where I would make purchases to maximize the ExtraCare Bucks I'd receive as well as using the register coupons to save money.

Fast forward to Hyderabad. We moved into a furnished apartment. It has furniture but no dishes, cookware, glasses, cutlery, utensils, etc. So when I went out shopping, it was almost a relief to know that I was only going to go to one store, and if I needed something, it was going in the cart.

That being said, nothing I have found has been expensive. I bought a darker set of curtains for 2 of the bedrooms and sheets for the girls' beds. I did look at the prices and decided that they were still cheaper than they'd be if I were purchasing them at home, so to the checkout I went. Then when everything was rung up...50% off everything. Woo Hoo!

So even though I got lucky, hopefully the lessons I've learned from my frugal friends won't be forgotten. For all of you who are still in the mindset of bargain hunting, check out my friends' blogs:

http://www.frugalinvirginia.com
http://www.madamedeal.wordpress.com
http://www.funfabulousandfrugal.com