Because everyone likes an umbrella in their drink

As it is getting hotter and hotter (and hotter!), I look for ways to keep cool around my house and the Valley. Now I have had many people in this town ask me, bless their little hearts, “How did you stand the unbearable heat in Louisiana?” And as the temperatures rise to ABOVE ninety in Hailey, I finally have my answer—the air conditioner. In the South, one moves from a temperature-controlled house to a chilly car to a destination, all in quick order and with as few stops as possible. In Idaho, this mode of pod-living is not an option. My house was built pre-air-conditioning (thank goodness for my trusty Suburu and the Sun Valley Magazine’s brisk office air). But in the high-and-dry mountains, I love being outside and around town, 90-degree temps be damned.

As I was trolling Hailey this weekend, I noted an essential and glaring absence: chips, salsa, breeze, margaritas. It is a travesty that there is not one place in town (and I am talking Hailey–not Ketchum or Bellevue) where I can sit outside in the shade, enjoy the summer breezes, gorge myself on tortilla chips with dippables, and sip on one of my classic summer favs, the margarita.

I have shared my favorite fruit margarita before on yum!, but I recently learned a quick and easy recipe from one of my favorite books, The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love. There is a place in Natchez, Mississippi that I feel everyone should know about if they ever fancied a Delta vacation—Fat Mama’s. The best tamales, great atmosphere, to-die-for chips and salsa, and margaritas that will “Knock-You-Naked.” Luckily, I have the recipe so I can sit on my back porch, sip a cool drink, close my eyes, and dream that I have a cabana boy at my beck-and-call, instead of my bulldog, Montgomery, drooling on my feet.

The Margarita

If they “knock ya nekkid,” don’t say I didn’t warn you! Grab frozen limeade, ice cubes, and a blender to get really chilly.

18 ounces limeade
18 ounces tequila (use good tequila)
24 ounces 7-up (or sprite)
24 ounces Dos Equis or Corona

Get a large picture and mix it all up. Pour over ice and garnish with an umbrella. Because everyone likes umbrellas in their drinks.

Mangolicious

The mango is an exotic and enticing fruit that leaves me contentedly frustrated. Content because the juice, flavor, fragrance, and color are so foreign that with one bite, I am transported from my happy mountain valley to any tropical location (mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines; and a symbol of attainment and potential perfection in the Hindu religion). And frustrated because I never can cut it correctly or get enough meat away from the massive pit.

America has been good to mangoes in recent years. The word is a color description, fashion statement, SNL character, or Seinfeld reference. I have taken advantage of the continuing availability and buzz around the fruit and tried a number of new recipes. Mango is so healthy and great plain, as a salsa, as a topping to pork and a classic yummy dessert. I found this recipe years ago in Gourmet Magazine and it is a great way to quickly impress your guests with your mad flambé skills, or indulge yourself with a bit of rum-soaked heaven. Yum!

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Mangoes Flambé

Serves 4. Takes about 15 minutes.

4 (one-pound) firm-ripe mangoes
6 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1/3 cup dark rum

Preheat broiler. Wash and dry mangoes. Use the ‘inside-out’ cutting method: Remove 2 flat sides of each mango with a sharp knife, cutting lengthwise alongside pit and cutting as close to pit as possible so that mango flesh is in 2 large pieces (reserve remaining fruit for another use). Make a crosshatch pattern with a small sharp knife, cutting across fruit down to skin at 1/2-inch intervals and being careful not to pierce through. Grasp fruit at both ends and turn inside out to make flesh side convex.

Arrange fruit, skin side down, in a large shallow baking pan lined with foil and sprinkle evenly with 4 tablespoons turbinado sugar (total). Broil 5 inches from heat until fruit is golden brown (it will not brown evenly), about 5 minutes. Arrange fruit on a large platter. Cook rum with remaining sugar in a small saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and then carefully ignite rum with a kitchen match and pour, still flaming, over warm mangoes. Serve immediately.