Alex’s Mango Shake

My younger daughter, Alex, stayed home from school yesterday. Bad cold. By noon, she was bored. She started pestering me about making some mango shakes. I told her later in the afternoon. Two hours later, she couldn’t wait anymore. She made the mango shake herself. Divine!

I didn’t see how she did it… why the milk and the pureed mango are layered that way? All I did was set up the Thunder stick Pro for her then I left her in the kitchen. I do know, however, that she started by pureeing only two mangoes. I suppose that, after adding the milk, there wasn’t enough to fill two tall glasses. I remember her asking if she could puree the remaining three mangoes. I guess she poured the pureed mangoes into the two glasses, added milk without stirring, added the second batch of pureed mangoes, then added more milk. She was putting in sugar when I entered the kitchen and I said, “Hey, wait! The layers of mango and milk look so pretty that way. I’ll take photos first.” And I did.

We stirred the drinks after the little photo session. Drinking my daughter’s concoction was quite an experience. Darn, it was good. Too bad that her dad and sister will only get to enjoy the mango shake by looking at the photos. Alex only made enough for herself and me.

This sinful creation isn’t my doing. My daughter (she’ll be 12 in less than two weeks) did this. That’s why I call it Alex’s Choco loco. It’s Swiss Miss and whipped cream with Hershey’s chocolate morsels on top. When I told her it was probably worth 5,000 calories, she refused to finish her share. Duh! As though I’m the only one who’d get fat with her concoction. I must say it’s delicious. But I had to skip dinner.

See, my daughters love Starbucks’ frappuccino. But the nearest Starbucks is 45 minutes away. Gasoline is expensive and so is Starbucks. It’s not something we can enjoy every day. I mean, one trip to Starbucks means about PhP 500.00 for the four of us in the family. If we add brownies, or the rum cake that I love so much, or the corned beef pan de sal that is my kids’ favorite, it’s twice as much. That’s more than enough to pay for a meal for four in a good restaurant. Add to that the price of gasoline and Starbucks becomes insanity. Besides, Starbucks is so fattening. So, it’s a once-in-a-while treat.

Over the Christmas break, the girls did manage to cajole their dad and me into going to Starbucks almost every time we went out. Like, between Christmas and New Year, we were there four times. Four times in one week… my, bad. I could feel the whipped cream and sugar when I had to tuck my tummy in when buttoning my pants after that.

Christmas break is over and Starbucks is long ago and far away. So, my younger girl has been suffering from some kind of Starbucks withdrawal. She’s been experimenting with the proper combination of coffee and cocoa to make mocha drinks. Her dad and I are the guinea pigs. Gee, the weight we must be packed in. But how do we say no when she offers to make us one of her concoctions, right? A mocha drink was what she intended to make tonight but we don’t allow her to drink coffee at night because she keeps everyone up half the night with her chatter. So, she settled for Swiss Miss. Anyway, if you want to make this wickedly delicious drink, here’s how my daughter did it. I did help her a little with the whipped cream.