Once again I volunteered for the Mango Tasting Room, opting for the Sunday morning shift from 9AM to 1PM. This year I was assigned to the table at the entrance where you paid your dollar to my fellow volunteer Dr. Jean Ross, (money goes to the Garden fund) and then got handed a ballot and a pencil and a quick spiel about voting for your three favorite varieties by yours truly.
Needless to say, neither Jean nor I got to sit down or stop working frantically for four solid hours as an endess line of adults, kids and infants, some in arms and some in strollers, walked, skipped, and rolled on by, intent on geting to the tasting tables where big bowls of diced mangoes, from Florida, Mexico, India and the "country of this year's Festival" Colombia, were waiting to be tasted and rated. (A low bow to those ladies in the kitchen who had been slicing and dicing since I arrived at 8:30 and were still going strong when I left my station at 1.)
Not sure who the official winner was, but I personally voted for the Malliki from India. I highly recommend it. It is absolutely delicious.
Once my shift was over I was joined by two good friends, Sandy and Gill, who arrived in time for lunch. The variety of food stalls for this event is positively overwhelming. . suffice to say I chose Seafood Paella from a Cuban booth (could have lived without all those little octopussy things but otherwide delicious) , Gill had a Greek salad and some kind of meat dish from the Greek booth, and Sandy opted for a Nathan's Kosher hotdog.
After lunch we took a run through the Exotic Butterfly Garden, a truly magical experience, and stopped in for a few minutes at the Mango Auction, about to start in front of a packed audience in the Garden House.
At that point I began to realize I am no longer 21, and if I didn't get in my car and head for home, a cold shower, and bed, I was going to pass out. It was a fun day but a definitely tiring one. If you've never been to the Mango Festival, it's definitely worth putting on your schedule for next year.
The photos are courtesy of Sandy. I was too tired by that time to focus.# # #
Photo captions:
Above: The Mango Auction display
Left: Gill, Sandy and the short person
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