Thursday, March 18, 2010

Mangoes

Here's a basket of mangoes. I don't eat too many of them, but I LOVE pickled mango!! This sounds familiar....did I already do a post on mangoes!? Anyway, my second grade teacher in grade school, an old Hawaiian lady, who was a completel psycho b*tch, made the best pickled mango that I ever put in my mouth. But she was absolutely frightening. When we were "bad", she put us in a closet, smacked us with a yardstick, and made the boys put on ballet tutus and sit on a stool in front of the whole class. And yet, she would sometimes bring us delicious pickled mango. Very strange woman.

29 comments:

  1. Those look tasty!

    I like pickled mangoes too! That is one of the things I need to learn how to make. I really like the juice. It just seems to be really good for ice cream.

    Speaking of bad teachers... the worst teacher I had was in the 5th grade. Unfortunately my parents never gave me a real lunch that I can eat unless dad wants to fry us fried rice. Anyway, she had a jar of starburst but she treated me so badly I wished something bad happened to her. Well... let's just say her husband died the next day. The mind can be a powerful thing.

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  2. Betty, I was sometimes a good student, when I didn't have to try too hard. I excelled in English and Art. Oh, and P.E., haha!! But all the other shit? Forget it! Science, math, and history...UGH!! I was good in speech, but only because I made them laugh. When I went to college, I got my friends to take my math tests for me ;-).

    School lunches in grade school were HORRID!! I'm surprised I didn't die of malnutrition!!

    My 5th grade teacher was a sadistic bitch on wheels too, though!! I really think she had marital problems and brought that into the classroom with her. I just shut down after awhile and refused to do any work. And ooooh, she really laid into me something fierce because of it.

    Ok, I'm done ranting ;-).

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  3. Poor you Kiva, sounds like you had a school-experience like "Matilda" in the novel(and movie) by the norwegian author Roald Dahl (http://www.roalddahl.com/). If you haven´t red any of his books ore seen the films made of them, please do!!!!! They are so funny and crazy!!! Right up your ally I am sure. And in this movie/ book Mathilda has a really crazy and scary teacher... almost like the one you describe. But it is also very funny and touching!
    Look into the web page for some "crazyness"
    Ahh.. and as usual the mangoes looks superb!!!
    Synnøve :)

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  4. Pickled mangoes , YES!! I wonder if yours are like ours over here. It's super sour and the fruit is sliced into pieces, pickled till yellow. They are crunchy and the juice runs down your lips if you are not careful. Stains on the shirt can be hard to remove.

    Speaking of copy, I once copied word for word an assignment from a friend. He got a B+ and I a C-, for the exact same stuff!! Thereafter, I got completely disillusioned with our educational system :).

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  5. So nice mangoes, I've never tried pickeled mango, just mango chutney, which I figure isn't the same?

    I've been lucky to have nice teachers, the only scary one was on the 1st and 2nd grade, she was overly religious and was telling us about her visions and how we're going to be punished etc. etc.

    Have a nice weekend,

    Ira

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  6. Love Mango Chutney, Rhubarb and Mango jam that I make, dried Mango in a curry. Yum!

    Now you have gone and made me hungry again.

    I of course, was an excellent student (not).

    Tom

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  7. Your mango's are perfect!
    I don't think I have ever tasted a fresh mango. Next time I see them at the store I'll buy one.
    That teacher AAARRRGGGHHH! They would fire her today for doing things like that.

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  8. Growing up in rural New Zealand, we never saw a mango. It was only when we lived in Sydney that we tried them - taste was ok, but I couldn't get past the odd faint smell (to me) of turpentine that seems to go with them.
    And what is it about women who taught young children?? I had a couple of horrors, but they overlooked me because I was a 'good' child - that only meant that I didn't give them the trouble they deserved!! I had retreated into my own little dream world.

    Your mangoes are excellent, Kiva!!

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  9. That teacher would make a great witch in Hansel and Gretel, fill the kids with sweets then torture them.

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  10. Love these luscious looking mango's! Yes, sometimes I think people go into teaching so they can bully small children. There was a big battle axe at my elementary school who when the children mashed up those horrible lunches and mixed everything together, she made them eat it and some would throw up. Once she made a child who had a phobia of elevators get on one during a field trip. The child was terrified and screaming and she picked him up and forced him on, something I am sure he remembers today. Luckily I never had her but she is a flaming fat ass bitch from hell--there I said it. She is still alive and I think we'll see smoke coming from her grave when she dies because she will be going to hell! (incidentally, she was also hateful to my mother who died of cancer six years ago. She was in my church).

    Well, I feel much better now and I normally don't vent and curse like that about people, especially as a 'guest' on someone else's blog but as we say in the south sometimes you've got to call a spade a spade. Or as the late Marion Gramling used to say, "Sometimes you have a to call a spade a damned shovel."

    Jody--please pardon my outburst!

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  11. The mangoes look fabulous!

    You've out done my husband's nun stories. ;)

    btw, I love Jody's openness. :)

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  12. your mangoes look fragrant and delicious like the real thing. I love mangoes, especially the one's ripened to perfection :)

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  13. PHEWeeee! LOL Jody! I didn't know you had it in you but I'm glad you do. :-)

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  14. Mangoes look delicious... I don't think here in New Zealand I have ever had the chance to experience a descent mango, the only ones we get are obviously drenched in spray and picked really early and shipped here... not so nice.

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  15. Synnove, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of my all time favorite flicks, EVER!! The Gene Wilder one, not the Johnny Depp ;-).

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  16. Susan, yes!! Some people have different ways of pickling them, but my teacher took green mangoes and soaked them in something like a soy sauce/vinegar concoction. I'm surprised that they weren't poisoned, lol!!

    That's funny about the copying bit. WTF??? I've done that before, and also the tiny notes you tuck into your sleeve. One of my best friends in high school, a brainiac, would sit next to me during tests, too!

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  17. Ira, yikes!! Nothing like being reminded that you're going to hell every day, right??

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  18. Thanks Glenda!! Oooooh yes, I know about retreating into a dream world. I know it very well ;-).

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  19. Karin!!! I know!! Truly sadistic. She really got off on it, I know she did.

    Hey, here are some mangoes...with razor blades buried inside!!

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  20. Jody, you GO GIRL!!! Let it all hang out, I welcome it!! That woman should not be anywhere NEAR children....or anyone else, for that matter!! Ooooh, that really pisses me off!!!

    On a side note, I think our grade school lunches were already mashed together. They were so revolting. For example, a scoop of mashed potatoes with specks of ground hamburger, and a pile of beets slapped on top :-/. We once went to a public school (ours was private)for a field trip and was astonished at how delicious their lunches were!! I was pissed!!

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  21. Thanks Dale!! Oh God, the nuns!! My mom has some nun stories too, since she went to a Catholic girl's school.

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  22. Hey, watch what you say, my aunt worked in the public school lunches, (the buns were terrific) and hubby's mom worked in the parochial, but, I hever heard him sing those lunches praises. lol ;)

    I always like the pizza, mac and cheese and the buns with what ever else was with the meals. Hey, that's what I remember, I'm old now. ;) lol!

    I made my kids such good lunches when they were wee little ones, they still talk about them. :)

    Kiva, is there some where that you have a gallery of your work?

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  23. Thank you, The Visionary Butterfly!! They are fragrant too! My gramps used to have a big mango tree in his yard. He used a long handled net to grab them.

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  24. DollhouseGhost, you have to try a ripe one!! And OMG, you are a paranormal investigator!!! I LOVE it!! You must tell me about your experiences. Hawaii is one of the most haunted places on earth, I kid you not!

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  25. Dear Kiva I do not like mangoes...never had apickled one though but yours are truly delicious looking. As for teachers...I've been lucky till High school, then I had my share of frustrated, psycho people who'd have done much better hanging themselves in the cellar. We were only 11 kids at school, being tested at least once a day, half of us needed a psycologist and the others developed a form of aorexia (aka me). I remember High School as the worst 5 years in my life. My brother went to the same school and still regrets those days: he had so much fun! Life is a lottery. Have a nice week end Rosanna

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  26. Dale baby, the public school lunches in Hawaii were head and shoulders above the private school slop I got in grade school, are you kidding?? Maybe this is part of the reason why I zoned out during much of the day :-O. Much props to the cafeteria peeps in public school!! It wasn't until I was in high school that I was fed properly!!

    Do you mean an art gallery or online? My work is in a couple museums, but I also post my stuff here sometimes:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/miniaturist/

    http://kivasminiatures.com/

    - I hate my website, though.

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  27. Oh Rosanna!!! WTF kind of high school was that?? It almost sounds like an institution.

    When I was in 7th to part of 10th grade, I went to what was then known as Hawaii School for Girls. LOTS of fast girls who wore their uniforms barely covering their nether regions, druggies, and spoiled rich girls. It was almost like a halfway house! They didn't take kindly to the fact that mom dropped me off in a convertible Rolls Royce Corniche, so I had her stop a block from school so I could walk the rest of the way. Some of them were THUGS!! There were a few occassions when I was accosted and threatened in the hallways. I was trying to keep my nose clean and be a decent student, but, for awhile at least, it was difficult in that kind of environment. Eventually, I killed the bullies with humor.

    From part of 10th grade till graduation, I went to Punahou (Obama's alma mater). But by then, I was "acting out", ie, going off campus and drinking during lunch with a bunch of friends, not studying, spray painting the bathroom walls, clubbing, listening to punk music, all of that stuff. I wasn't any tamer by the time I got to college (if anything, I was worse).

    So, yes, it has taken me quite awhile to "settle down". I really do give alot of credit to miniatures for my sanity. That, and just getting older and somewhat wiser ;-).

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  28. All the school stories, it's amazing we all survived! LOL!

    Oh, Kiva, thank you so much for the flickr link, I knew I wanted one of your creations, but now I have a list!(I'll email you)

    The things with the eyes are hysterical! :)

    Couldn't you get a paypal button on your website and then just show all of your work there?

    It might be easier than listing on ebay. ?

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