It’s fun to hang out with people who have the same idea of fun as you do.
When my sister Lauren told one of her co-workers that she was coming to Denver to see me this weekend, he asked what her plans were.
“Do CrossFit, cook, visit a paleo coffee shop,” she replied.
“Oh,” he replied. He looked at her oddly and walked away.
“He clearly did not understand why that would be fun,” she told me.
But that’s part of what we love to do together! During her two-day visit, we whipped up two delicious recipes which I will feature on the blog this week.
We also visited mmm…coffee, Denver’s first paleo coffee shop. I munched on an arugula salad and Lauren dug into a bowl of paleo minestrone soup. Then we both finished up with a sampler of amazing paleo treats. Yum!
Lauren, about to dig into paleo minestrone soup at mmm.coffee
Now, some of the folks in my neighborhood had a different idea of fun this Cinco de Mayo weekend. As Lauren and I were returning from the gym Saturday morning, we crossed paths with group of revelers stumbling out of a bar at 11:30 am.
One of them had lit a bunch of napkins on fire and placed them in the brim of his sombrero, giving the effect of a burning straw hat on his head.
Soon enough, the straw hat was actually burning.
The guy managed to dump the hat and the group enthusiastically stomped out the flaming napkins before they stumbled down the street and on with the celebration.
They seemed to be having a good time but Lauren and I agreed we would much prefer to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by making mango salsa (and sipping a bit of champagne) in my little kitchen.
Mango Salsa
Mangos, 3 (2-3 cups cubed)
Red pepper, ½
Jalapeno, 1
Red onion, ¼ cup
Cilantro, ½ cup tightly packed
Juice from 1 lime
Salt and pepper
- Cut mango into cubes. (Here’s a great tutorial on how to make this step fast and easy!)
- Dice red pepper, jalapeno and red onion. These should be diced pretty small, since the flavors are intense. (I did this by hand but Lauren said a hand chopper makes this step much easier.)
- Remove cilantro leaves from stem and chop them. (I didn’t chop them super well for this batch. I would recommend you cut the leaves up better than shown in my picture.)
- Mix all chopped ingredients in a bowl.
- Stir in lime juice, salt and pepper.
- If possible, let this sit overnight before serving so the flavors all meld into a mind-blowing medley of perfection. This is a delicious topping over an avocado, fish or (non-paleo alert!) corn chips.