May I take this moment on the background intercom to announce a Day of the Dead dinner party and fundraiser I will be helping to cook for, this Saturday at 5:30. Details are here.

This is a party report. Get ready. Yesterday, without the help of neither lubricating spirits nor menu planning, a ragtag Mangoland Cooks! reunion group put together a versatile dinner, including but not limited to:

Massaged Red Savoy Cabbage Taco Shells

Curried chickpeas in a tomato-leek base

North Indian Sweet Potato Fries

Fresh shaken yogurt salad with bobbing tomato, asian cucumber, and pomegranate

Stir-fried Baby Bok Choi and Burdock with hints of Fennel in a Sweet and Sour sauce

Pineapple-Pomegranate Fruit Salad with Gratuitous Apple Slices in a Toasted Walnut-Coconut Snowfall

As in, “you should have been there”. Of the many revelatory moments that evening, we came to mutual awareness of

1) Tuna Dan sells great fresh fish at affordable prices from the back of his car (tunadan@centurytel.net)

2) You can get pieces of Medjool Dates (to make date sugar or use in baked goods) by calling 760-572-0439 and asking for “damaged dates”. It’s $30 dollars for 15 pounds.

3) We are having our next class in two weeks, on the 11th of November, up at the Lost Mountain Observatory (South of Sequim; email for directions). The theme is (breathe in, breathe out, breathe in once again) Squash. That’s right Squash. A vegetable for all courses.

As always, feel free to email with questions, comments, or recipes. And remember, friends:

Everything you ever thought was a yam is really a sweet potato. Go figure.

~ Ankurbhai