Making this pineapple, papaya, mango, strawberry, orange combination I think back to my first 'international' posting : making smoothies at The Power House in Winter Park, Florida. The fitness craze had just kicked off commercializing what men and women had been doing since the Athenian era, the Power House was practically dripping in anachronistic bean sprouts.
I always thought the Iranian exiles who ran the place and I were in on a secret, "These fools that pay more for health food?! It's just fresh fruit!"
There was a melancholy about the place despite its healthy offerings. The owner, a soft-bellied man of about 35 worked along side his ageing mother. Tiredness and homesickness and misunderstandings seemed to prevail, much like in many international postings.
I had to get out. The health food business was making me depressed. After a month or so I moved next door to the lively Greek restaurant to make tzatziki sauce and serve retsina in fish bottles to customers pretending to be on Greek isle, laughing in the sun.
I read yesterday that The Power House is still open. How did it survive? Fresh fruit never goes out of style.
How do we manage to be from one place, in my case the United States, study in another, Argentina and spend what seems like an eternity in all levels of the Divine Comedy, Italy, without losing the substance of who we are? We are cut up in pieces, our lives fragmented and out into seemingly separate compartments, the fruits of our labor swimming around in a bowl. A piece of one experience blends with another and make a mess. Everything does not have its place and it is a perfect reflection of the imperfect world. Delicious. Just keep it fresh, simple and cut to fit your taste.
Tropical Fruit Salad
One papaya
One pineapple
One mango
One orange
One bunch or strawberries
Serves four
Cut the strawberries lengthwise. Juice the orange to cover the fruit.
Serve with wooden skewers, chocolate and coconut in separate side dishes. You never know what will scintillate a story.
