When the Weather is Ridiculous, Fruit is Good

When the Weather is Ridiculous, Fruit is Good

Fruit works in any weather, actually

All photos by author

I live in Florida, and my friend has brought me a bagload of mangoes. She has a huge tree in her yard that might produce hundreds in a season. Sometimes storms knock down the fruit before it gets a chance to develop. Not this year, though.

This year I am the beneficiary of good weather and a good friend.

I live in Florida, and my yard is tiny, but it’s full of banana trees. Each banana trunk produces fruit only one time, and after that it’s just big leaves in your garden. But the root system pushes the next generation of stalks up out of the ground. (They’re called pups, which is lovely, I think.) So the next harvest is never too far away. Of course, each one means 45 bananas getting ripe in your yard at the same time. That’s what freezers are for.

I live in Florida, and by the time summer rolls around boeuf bourgignon, chicken pot pie, or even lasagne is unthinkable. So use the fruit right out of the freezer if that’s where you stashed it, and:

• One large banana, or two small, or just some banana
• One mango. Could be two.
• A handful of ice cubes, say five. Or six.
• 300 ml of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, because sometimes we can be precise. We don’t have to be, though.
• Blend for 40 seconds. Or 30. Or 45.

If you live in Florida, or anywhere that gets ridiculously hot, or ridiculously humid, or downpours in a similarly ridiculous way, you can observe it all from indoors as you enjoy your smoothie. It can also be enjoyed from outdoors, and in glorious weather.

It’s summer, y’all. Stay cool.