sour green mango

I just devoured one dipped in a little salt. Bought at a local Asian market a couple of days ago. Best eaten when it hasn't ripened yet. I'm still floating in the afterglow of that tart euphoria. One of my uncles had a huge tree of that particular variety growing in front of his house. I remember picking them off the low branches as a boy. This same uncle had a cockatoo who was quite the diva. He would sing two lines of O Sole Mio and actually take a bow right after by tucking his head under his right wing. Taste does indeed trigger memory recall. Sure, you can find them (green mangos...not cockatoos) pickled in brine or a chutney... but nothing beats fresh.

So, of late references to food have been bombarding my psyche. Recently I quoted something I heard my father saying a long time ago. "Love truly begins after the flash of passion has boiled down to a simmer." That's cookin, baby. Where's Hank Williams when you need him? I've even been dreaming about nosh. OK, admittedly a fair amount of these dreams also involved sex... but food was prominently featured.

I can only surmise that this convergence of the culinary in my life at the moment is directly related to the current play I'm developing. Yeah, it's about a terrorist chef. The pace of development is actually occurring pretty fast. This one is coming quite easily. No, I haven't written a lick yet. Waiting for an opportune moment when I feel that it's fully cooked enough before I will allow myself to be lost in my bliss.

What surprises me is that it took me this long to actually attempt writing a food related play. I originally come from a culture that is practically obsessed about food. It's not unusual for people over there to drive for miles in the quest for a certain dish that is served in some shanty hole in the wall. Really, Malaysians make no bones about the fact that we live to eat. BTW... HERE is a really good Malaysian food blog if you're so inclined.

I cook. I have even "trained" most of my friends here to the point that if I do serve a "full tilt" curry that they will gobble it up while sweating and tearing profusely without moaning about the hellish heat index. I've run a food business... and may again soon. Some of my favorite movies are food related... Tampopo, Like Water For Chocolate, Big Night... just to name a few.

So, yeah... I think it's about time, don't you?