2010: the year of living recklessly

After careful consideration, I have decided that 2010 will be the year of living recklessly (obviously the careful consideration and reckless bits are somewhat at odds, so reckless behaviour will commence after that last careful consideration).

I've taken the first step. My contract at work has just expired, and they kindly offered to make me a permanent member of staff. My stomach sank, my marrow screamed 'no'and two weeks later I said no - somewhat less emphatically than my marrow had. Significantly less emphatically, actually, as they weren't quite convinced that I had resigned. It took two tries and that letter to leave.

I don't ordinarily follow/pay attention to/place significant weight in the words of horoscopes, except, of course, when they match up with what I want. But a colleague, upon hearing that I was departing, emailed me a rather detailed description of which moon is moving through which sign, who is orbiting who and so forth (all sounds a bit rude really), the short of which is that apparently this is a time when we can expect radical change. Rather accurate really. And not just for me, either. The fortune of Mr Anti Choice himself, Tony Abbott, for example, has vastly changed. Those ears were just meant for politics and newspaper caricatures.

So, universe, I have opened up a giant and expensive chasm in my life. Now if you could please oblige by sending something radical my way, I'd be most appreciative.

Since it's not quite 2010, the recklessness is quite tame at this stage. This weekend's act of recklessness is to pulp three perfectly lovely mangoes and risk spoiling them for the potentially happy outcome that is sorbet. The other potential outcome, of course, is sad and ruined mangoes that would have been wonderful just as they were until I got all reckless on their loveliness. On reflection, this could be a terrible allegory for what I have just done to my employment prospects: pulped.

If you would like to pulp things I would recommend starting with mangoes before chucking in your job.

This is pretty much a Tessa Kiros recipe, from Apples for Jam (I've just used a little less sugar).

What you'll need...

2-3 ripe mangoes
1/3 cup caster sugar
juice of 2 limes
grated rind of 1 lime

The how to...

1. Peel the mangoes and chop the flesh into small chunks.
2. Tip the mango into a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, then stir and cover. Leave overnight - this draws out the mango juice.
3. The next day, blend until smooth. Sieve the mixture if it is stringy. You can add sugar a little at a time if you like, for more sweetness.
4. Top up with water to make about 2 cups of mixture and then pour into a container with a lid. Stick it in the freezer. After an hour, pull it out and give it a whisk then put it back in the freezer for a couple more hours, before pulling it out to whisk again. When it is nearly firm, pull it out for one last whisk then leave it in the freezer to set. If you have an ice cream maker you can circumvent the in/out/whisk thing.

Will post a picture tomorrow if it turns out pretty. This is supposed to serve 4-6 people, but I'm inclined to thinking that on a hot day it is enough to make one person very happy.