Monday, May 11, 2009

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better..., rev. ed.

Just when I thought uppuma couldn't get any better, along came our friendly neighborhood Fruit Guru to prove me wrong. He arrived with a box of mangoes, but not just any mangoes, mind you, Alphonso mangoes. I liked the look of the box from the moment I set eyes on it.

alphonso in the house fig. a: Alphonso in the house

And when I opened it, I found the mangoes nestled in shredded ruled paper.

delicious mangoes, shredded paper fig. b: shh, they're resting

Adam warned me that this might be the #1 fruit event of the year, but, even so, I really wasn't prepared for these "Indian Farm Fresh" Alphonsos. I haven't had a case of fruit frenzy that was this intense in years. (Come to think of it, the Fruit Guru was the genius behind that fruit event, too.) I had my first bite, and it was pure ecstasy. So sweet, so highly perfumed, so perfectly textured. Within about a minute, I'd finished my first two and was onto my third. Michelle was still hours from returning home. At the rate I was going, the box would be finished within about 15 minutes. It took superhuman will to set my fourth Alphonso back in its place, put the cover back on the box, and tear myself away, but somehow I did. Hours later, when Michelle finally got home from work, she was awfully glad that I had.

The Fruit Guru imparted the following sage words before he left that afternoon: "Every day that begins with an Alphonso mango is a good day." So the next morning, we gave 'em a whirl. First we had them with a fresh batch of uppuma. Then I had some more on yogurt.

alphonsos & yogurt fig. c: can't touch this

He was absolutely right: it was a good day. A very good day.

aj

P.S. The word on the street is that now's the time to find Indian Farm Fresh Alphonsos. The season is short. Call your favorite South Asian grocer and ask for them by name.

P.S. 2 As you can see from our comments, there have been reports of Alphonsos sightings at Marché Thurga on Jean-Talon in Parc Ex and Marché Oriental on Victoria. Good luck!! And TY to our intrepid mango hunters!!!

12 comments:

Unknown said...

I anyone spots a box in Montreal, please share the location. :)

Mahendra Singh said...

Yes, indeed, can you tell us where you got yours? Alfonsos are very good!

aj kinik said...

hi, Ross,
hi, Mahendra,
I'm not sure where he got them--somewhere along Jean-Talon in Parc Ex, I believe

good luck

we're going to scour the area next week--we'll let you know if we find anything

Sylvain said...

I tried Harmony (on Darlington) Thai Hour and a few others on St-Denis and didn't find the mangoes. Went to Jean-Talon market and asked for them by name at Chez Louis and he told me I was probably wrong with the name and told me to buy Atulfos.

So, when you find the mangoes, please share the discovery with us!

aj kinik said...

hi, Sylvain,
like I said in the comment above, along Jean-Talon in Parc Ex is probably your best bet

we still haven't had a chance to look

and, no, they weren't Atulfos

Sylvain said...

Update: This afternoon, I did all fruits-selling markets between Acadie and St-Denis on Jean-Talon and didn't find any Alphonsos ... alas.

Mark Slutsky said...

Hey dudes after scouring the market and parc ex I finally found a box in a place calledThurga (iirc) on JT and Durocher. Monday is apparently the last day so hurry!!

Sylvain said...

Marché Oriental Victoria on Victoria between Plamondon and Van Horne received boxes of Alphonso's this morning. Went there to buy a box and there was a line-up of people buying Alphonso's and Kessar's.

ross said...

Thank you everyone!
Great blog.

NIall Harbison said...

I always thought mangoes were fairly plain and often too hard when I bought them in Europe and had pretty much given up on them before I went to Australia. The ones in the southern hemisphere seem so much sweeter, must be something to do with the sun arming them up or something!

Ken Sloan said...

Every year around this time I keep hearing about alphonso mangoes and I've yet to get my hands on a box. Considering how popular they are, I'm surprised no one's been able to step up and meet the demand yet!

Teena in Toronto said...

I've never had a mango.

I'm here from Canada Blog Friends.