Hawaii hits home.

Garlic shrimp with coconut rice, steamed sweet potato, and fresh mango. Tonight's dinner was inspired by my English conversation partner, a sweet woman who just returned from her honeymoon in Hawaii. To give her some practice conversating, I demanded that she tell me about every single meal that she had on her trip. Afterward, I ran directly to Trader Joe's and made a mad rush for frozen shrimp and mango like the store was on fire. And then I thought, okay, now what do I do? So I dug up some light coconut milk I froze months ago and found a recipe for light coconut brown rice (I halved this recipe, and used vegetable broth since I had no chicken broth). Once that was going, I chopped up a sweet potato and an onion and put them into a small pot with some water and pinches of salt, shredded coconut, and ginger, letting it steam on low with the lid on until the sweet potatoes were soft. Just before the rice was done, I threw some garlic and chili flakes into the frying pan with a spray of olive oil and once that was heated, I tossed my shrimp in for just a few minutes until they were warm. I should've marinated them but I was too eager to get it going and too lazy to bother. And finally, I chopped up the mango. Et voila! Dinner. It probably wasn't how Hawaii does it exactly, but I liked it. I started to worry that all of these flavors would overwhelm each other, but I think my moderation saved me by a pinch. It's easy, healthy, and apart from the shrimp and mango, I already had everything I needed. And you know how I love that, don'tcha?