Active Time: 20 Minutes
Total Time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS
2 mangos, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks (one mango might be enough)
½ Tbsp. Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
1 can coconut milk (always make sure to shake and then stir as it separates in the can)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

PREPARATION
1. Put ½ cup of the mango, the paste, the coconut milk and the brown sugar in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

2. Heat 1 tsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sauté 5 minutes or until browned.

3. Add sauce mixture and bring to a simmer. Simmer 3 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining mango. Serve in lettuce leaves or over rice sprinkled with chopped cilantro if desired.

Different Takes:

Sauté a thinly sliced red bell pepper along with the chicken.
Sprinkle with chopped mint or basil and toasted sliced almonds.

This is actually my take on the Thai Mango Chicken Recipe from Woman’s Day. I had to improvise since I couldn’t find one of their ingredients. I also had two mangoes which had to be used up. In the future, I might only use one. I like the crispness of the fruit in the hot dish, but having two mangoes seemed like it overpowered the sauce. Also only 1/2 Tbsp. of the paste, which is 1 1/2 Tsp., almost didn’t seem like enough spice. Next time I’m going to add more of the paste.

Matt’s reaction was extremely positive and it has been added to our “rotation.” Let me know what you think!

On a slightly different note, this was the first time I actually remember cutting and eating a mango. I didn’t know their seeds where so huge! They’re big and flat and run the length of the fruit. Very interesting. Also, the brown sugar is absolutely vital to the dish since the coconut milk is unsweetened. I think the sweetness with the spicy is part of the difference between Thai food and Indian food, although I could be mistaken about that.

I think the below quote is true not only for the loss of a loved one, but also for the loss of anything we hold dear.  Friendships, Relationships, a catastrophe happening in the world… Why do we believe we should only mourn a death?  Isn’t the death of a “belief” just as hard?

When a loss hits us,
we have not only the particular loss to mourn
but also the shattered beliefs and assumptions
of what life should be.
These life beliefs must be mourned separately.
Sometimes we must grieve for them first.
We can’t grieve the loss if we are in the midst of
“It’s not supposed to happen this way” . . .
We intellectually know that bad things happen ~
but to other people, not us,
and certainly not in the world we assumed we were living in . . .
Your belief system needs to heal and regroup as much as your soul does.
You must start to rebuild a new belief system from the foundation up,
one that has room for the realities of life
and still offers safety and hope for a different life:
a belief system that will ultimately have a beauty of its own
to be discovered with life and loss.
Think of a lifeless forest in which a small plant
pushes its head upward, out of the ruin.
In our grief process, we are moving into life from death,
without denying the devastation that came before.

– Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler, in
On Grief and Grieving : Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

I also get bored too easily.  I’ll be doing something and distracted with something else I’d rather be doing or something else I should do and won’t finish the first thing I started.  It’s a good thing I like laundry otherwise I’d never use it as something to distract myself from doing other things, like cleaning the toilets.  Man, I dislike cleaning the toilets, only because it’s so hard to get the blasted things as clean as I’d truly like them to be.  The only thing I’ve found which cleans the toilets to a sparkling white is Comet and elbow grease.  Nothing else works.  One of the girls in my Sunday School class suggested using baking soda, but baking soda didn’t really do a blasted thing.  I’m going to have to give in and clean the toilets by hand sometime soon here.

So, I was talking to Matt tonight about how I’m just going to have to schedule time in my day to slowly but surely do everything which I’d like to accomplish.  The housework is not all my responsibility, but I like it doing it (imagine that) so I’m going to have to be more conscientious about it.  Having said that, I’ve used this blog as enough escape for right now, but I think I’m going to do what Teri is doing with her running and keep a running log of how I’m doing with my time management.

My next door neighbor recently committed suicide and then two days ago one of my friend’s neighbors did the same thing.  Used a gun in the bathroom.  Didn’t show up to work for 2-3 days and they got concerned.  Parents were out of the country.  Believe me when I say that suicide does not solve any problems.  That 24-year old boy may have decided to end his problems, but it caused his parents, siblings and even his neighbors a whole bunch of pain.  My friend said her neighbor came home to the fire truck in front of her house and thought it was her husband.  I experienced the same fear when I saw the gurney for our neighbor in front of Matt and my front door.  It’s absolutely terrifying to think that something has happened to someone you love.

To anyone who’s thinking of ending their own life, please believe there are people who deeply love and care about you.  There are people all around you who will hurt if you leave.  Please talk to someone about your depression and your fear before you do anything drastic.  Sometimes all it takes is just a listening ear to make you feel better.  If you ever need someone to talk to, I’d be more than happy to be that listening ear.

Peace.

Anyways, he has told me the story from his point of view and I have seen a part of the movie and I have read the synopsis of the movie on Wikipedia, so I feel eminently qualified to give my perspective of the movie.  So hold on to the seat of your pants, I’m going to take you through a whirlwind Christy-fied review of STEEL MAGNOLIAS.  * half-hearted cheering and faint clapping heard in background*  Yes, I even provide my soundtrack.  haha

******SPOILER ALERT, if you haven’t already seen Steel Magnolias, you’re either too young to have seen it, haven’t heard about it (in which case you MUST have been in the African Bush for the past 30 or so years) or just don’t care to watch a bunch of women walk around talking about themselves and their families (if the last one’s the case, you shouldn’t be reading this blog in the first place, because it’s mainly about me ).  SPOILER  ALERT END*******

So, the movie opens to a wedding, because apparently everyone in the South gets married and it’s always a big. deal.  This lone girl is walking around watching the craziness of people carrying stuff into the house for the reception after the wedding and eventually we see her ending up at a hairdresser (young Dolly Parton) and getting a job.  Got semi-bored of the movie at this point.  Watched a little bit of the wedding, went upstairs and played Silent Hill: Origins (the amazing man who loves Steel Magnolias also drove me 25 minutes tonight to get a used game I’d been wanting for quite a while, once again he deserves to be kissed), gotta love me some Silent Hill.  Came downstairs to find out the lady who had gotten married had died of Type 1 diabetes from having a child and the lone woman wandering around had gotten married and was expecting a child of her own.  Very nicely skipped the entire middle section of the movie and still got caught up on all the story.

My impression of the movie was that the town I work in is very, very much like the small southern town the movie was based in.  The town of Chinquapin is fictional, but the busybodyness and tendency of everyone to be in everyone else’s business is oh so reminiscent of what I see almost every day.  I  probably see it more, because I work at the heart of a social community.  That being said, I understand the drama and it’s pretty accurate.  Yup.  I think I’ve thought enough about the movie for now.  My recommendation, if you’re a guy, don’t see it.  If you’re a tomboy, I don’t know why you’d want to see it.  And if you’re a girl who’s into sappy romantic comedies, then this is absolutely a must see for you.  Oh yeah, and if you’re a fan of Dolly Parton, you absolutely have to see this movie in order to consider yourself a bonafide fan.

That’s it.  I’m done.  I’ve been thinking of bed for the past ten minutes and trying to think of some coherent way to finish the review, say good night and sign off, but I don’t really care anymore.  I really can’t be that witty after midnight and you can’t make me.

Like for instance, the kind of talk where I can just call someone up and complain to them about how *sick* I am that the dog does just not seem to be getting the idea that his bathroom is OUTSIDE and not upstairs on the carpet.  I think the dog thinks that he is the Alpha dog and everyone just bows to his every command!

I got news for you little mutt, you’re 10 lbs. and I weigh much much more than you and could kill you if I truly wanted to.  AAAAACk!

Some days I come home from a stressful day at work or on the road or just because I’M STRESSED OUT LEAVE ME ALONE hormones have kicked in and I find a little present that doesn’t smell good and doesn’t in any way act like a chill pill.  If I were a less sensitive person, I would drop kick the canine halfway to the moon and back.  Unfortunately for my sanity, but fortunately for the dog I am a sensitive person *repeat slowly and calmly* I am a sensitive person *smiles and continues* so I merely toss the “present” and ignore the dog.

I’m at my wit’s end.  I don’t know what to do with him.  I want to put him outside.  I can’t stand to have him inside the house anymore.  I almost want to be allergic to him so I don’t have to come home everyday and find something else I have to deal with.  I don’t want to sleep with the dog in the bed every night and I almost don’t want any dogs in the same room as me.

I want the dogs outside, but we could be moving to a new place soon and we don’t want to spend any money on this place, if we’re not going to be here much longer.