Girl of a Thousand Faces: Busy busy... and a Cinco de Mayo recipe!

It's been a couple weeks since my last post. This has been for a few reasons, mostly the crazy business I've been experiencing what with finals and projects and packing up EVERYTHING I own here and getting it back to Arizona. It's been... intense. But now the storm has passed! Everything I still have here- except for my pjs, an outfit for tomorrow, and my comforter- is packed into three suitcases, a shoulder bag, and one last box to be shipped first thing in the morning. My four crazy projects are completed, three out of four finals have been attended, the choir's performance of Carmina Burana went off without a hitch, and tomorrow I will go to my last final (a Biology poster symposium) and then hop in a cab to make my 1:50 flight. It's pretty crazy that twenty-four hours separate me from the end of my freshman year of college in Portland and the beginning of a four month summer in Arizona. I don't think it's hit me yet.

Anyways, that's why I've taken so long to post anything- the blog kind of got put on the back burner when I realized how much I had to do before leaving. During the elapsed time, though, my Mom came to visit me and not only did I get a camera cord (so I can upload pictures again!), we had the time/facilities/money to go out to eat, and do some cooking ourselves! I was soooo happy to actually eat well for four days. I mean, really, Bon (the dining hall here at Lewis and Clark)? Curry bars every other day? Vinegar-soaked parsnips? Spinach-apple pie? I get the whole "international" and "interesting" thing you're going for, but cut it out, please.

I digress. My mom and I got to take advantage of tons of the great food Portland has to offer (which I don't get to eat very often due to the hassle and money involved with getting it :( ), including Voodoo doughtnuts (they will be so sorely missed!), sushi, Stumptown coffee, and some awesome vegan fare from a restaurant called "Vita Cafe" on NE Alberta St. It was sooo gooood. But I'd say the best meal we had was the one we put together ourselves!

We stayed in a cute little hotel literally right on gorgeous Lake Oswego. The town is only five minutes away from my campus, but, seeing as I lack a car, I've never been able to explore it at all. It's so cute! We took a walk around part of the lake and took some beautiful pictures...

...and when we got back we both decided that neither of us was really hungry enough to go out or anything. Instead, we went to Albertsons and got some ingredients for a light, relatively healthy dinner that we could make in the hotel kitchenette.

I'd been wanting to try making mango salsa/bruschetta for quite a while, and I figured then was as good a time as any. It works out perfectly, too, because tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! Obviously I didn't realize when I made it two weeks ago that I wouldn't get a chance to post it till now, but hey, I call it serendipity. It's not really a meal by itself, so my mom and I paired it with some brie and chèvre. For Cinco de Mayo, I recommend serving it with tortilla chips instead of french bread, and maybe some soft fish tacos. For me and the other veggies out there, I would make "fish" tacos with a fried tofu recipe, but that'll have to wait until I have time and a kitchen.

By the way, a word on Cinco de Mayo. I have no idea if anyone celebrates this outside of the Southwest, and even then, it's seen as a Hispanic-exclusive holiday a lot of times. I resent this notion! Non-Irish people celebrate St. Paddy's, so why don't non-Hispanic people celebrate the fifth of May? Ok... you might wonder why I so love ethnic holidays. I say, it's not just ethnic holidays, it's all holidays. I love any excuse to celebrate, especially if cooking and dressing up is involved. What could be better? Anyways, put on your Sombrero, get out the limes and tequila, whip up some of this awesome mango salsa, and have a fiesta, no matter where in the world you are!

Mango Salsa
Ingredients: (make sure all your produce is fully ripened for the best flavor!)
-Three mangoes
-Two avocados
-Three tomatoes
-Two cloves garlic
-One red onion
-One jalepeño (or a pepper with a heat suitable to your palate)
-One lime
-Salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:
I feel kind of foolish even putting and instructions section. I mean, come on, it's salsa. But I'll do it anyways.
Chop the mangoes, avocados, onion, and tomatoes to a chunkiness you desire. I like fairly chunky. It looks prettier and it keeps the whole thing from getting mushy or soupy. Put them in a medium sized serving bowl.

Finely dice the garlic and the jalepeño (no one wants a huge chunk of one of those) and add to the bowl.

Squeeze the juice from a quarter of a lime over the whole things, and mix together, adding salt and pepper till it tastes just the way you like. Garnish with lime slices and serve with tortilla chips!

OR

if you want to do bruschetta, like my mom and I did, do the exact same thing except:
heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. Cut a loaf of crusty french bread into slices that are about one inch thick. Brown each side of each slice of bread in the frying pan until it's crispy and golden brown.