Southwestern Corn and Black Bean Salad

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.