Posted on Feb 10th, 2011 in
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Haute Life,
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Last week we had our monthly
Book Club meeting with an extra bonus celebration for
Kate's Birthday. We read
The Glass Castle which is a raw and startling memoir about a family moving around the US living in poverty. The author's parents were clearly mentally ill and the children were forced to fight for their own survival. I've read a lot of memoirs in my day and this was one of the most interesting and eye opening.
We usually pick a food theme based on the book. With
The Glass Castle, any food at all would have been appropriate (lard sandwiches anyone?) We narrowed it down to a Southwestern theme, since the author spent the early part of her childhood in the abandoned desert towns of eastern California and Arizona. I decided to create a
Corn and Black Bean Salad. I did a little online research to see what ingredients people usually use for flavor and came up with the recipe below. The result was super tasty as a stand alone salad, as a form of salsa for chips, and on the delicious fajitas that our host made. So versatile!
Most people would put cilantro in this salad, but since I think cilantro is an evil herb that tastes the way B.O. smells, I left it out. However, in the future I would maybe include grape tomatoes and definitely red bell peppers. I think the peppers would add a nice sweet crunch, but Kate is allergic and it was her birthday so I didn't want to make her pick them out. That's just the kind of awesome friend I am.
You'll Need:
- 1 bag of frozen corn
- 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
- ½ of a red onion, minced
- 1 cup diced mangoes
- 2 jalepenos, minced
- 2 large avocados, diced
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1 tsp. salt
Directions:
Place frozen corn in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes to let the corn thaw. Then combine next 5 ingredients through avocado in a large bowl. Add lime juice and salt to taste.
And for dessert: some delicious Birthday Macaroons from Paulette in Hayes Valley! Although they came in a variety of creative flavors like Earl Grey Tea, they were not as good as the ones I dream about.
Happy 29th Birthday Kate!
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