Letter to Erin 20150522

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

Hello there, my beautiful Erin.  How are you feeling today, Sweetheart?  I love you so much.  Lots of manual labor for me today.  Chopping and burning in the morning, then pruning and harvesting mangoes in the evening.  I actually don't like manual labor, but if I don't move around then I'll bloat.  Now the huge, strong mango tree in my front yard is not a harumanis.  I don't know what kind of mango it is.  My Mom, who watched the tree grow, thinks it's some kind of hybrid, so it doesn't really have a name.  Let's call it the USA mango.  Some of the branches were hanging too low, and dragging the fruit on the ground, so I chopped them all off.  The fruit has to be brought and kept inside to ripen.  This particular mango is not as tasty as a harumanis.  It is more fiberous and thicker in flavor.  And there's a lot of it.  A LOT.

I didn't really bother with much cooking today.  Chicken nuggets for lunch, some cold chili after the Asr prayer, and dinner at Ina's.  I'm not much of a traditional person.  Not in demeanor, nor in palate.  But I do love "nasi lemak bilis telur" (rice steamed in coconut milk with crispy anchovies and boiled egg with spicy sauce) which is as traditional as it gets around here, and if fresh and done right, I can eat copious amounts of the stuff.  I don't bother cooking it myself because everybody around here makes it.  What is comfort food for you?  Besides chocolate mousse?  I haven't really heard you mention it.  InshaAllah, I'll make copious amounts of it for you.  But we must work out.  We don't want to get bloated, right?  Sweetheart.  I love you.  And I need you.  I have to go practice guitar now.