Mango salsa in January

In an attempt to momentarily cure our winter weather weariness, L. initiated the making of a mango salsa for dinner last night. It included: fresh mangos, jalapeño pepper, cilantro, avocado, and lime juice. It was so freaking good that we ate the whole bowlful, first scooping properly with chips, then devouring it with spoons, and then licking the bowl (just kidding).

The ingredients seriously mocked our memories of 10-inch avocados and over-abundance of mangos we grew tired of eating in El Salvador. Not to mention that for four years on any Saturday of the year, I could walk to the farmer's market in Oakland and hand pick the cheapest, freshest, tastiest, most organic produce in the region from the people who'd grown, picked and delivered it.

In January in Minnesota, you settle for the produce at the co-op that has been picked green thousands of miles away and rattled to some version ripe-ness in a semi-truck, passing various inspections along the way. And you banish away your memories of the way life used to be. You pay a fortune for these hard specimens of tropical fruits, cart them home with visions of culinary dreaminess, and devour them in one sitting while snow falls outside.

In October, I was seriously tempted with the idea of eating only locally-grown foods forevermore, so help me Buddha. Last summer, L.'s sister loaned me the local food diet book written by Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I was inspired to adhere to my ideals. I always try to choose local over not local. But recently I went grocery shopping, and L. opened the fridge and said, "where's the food?" I'd managed to get hydroponic lettuce and beets, local cheese and bread, and not much else.

Buying locally is really hard to do in Minnesota in the winter. I could, potentially, spend all my free time driving all over the place and maximizing my "local" purchases. But, then I use a lot of gas instead of walking three blocks to the nearest store - and that doesn't make any sense. Once in a while, though, far-away grown mangos and cilantro and avocados in winter are great stimulants for SANITY and HAPPINESS.