Sara is a good friend. For many reasons. But for the purposes of this blog today, she is a good friend because of her ability to rationalize (and therefore encourage) just about anything.

Of course, she uses these powers only for good. Like when encouraging me to spend nearly $30 on a case of hard-to-find produce during a spring rendezvous in Chicago. Namely, Indian mangoes, which were banned from the United States until two years ago:

Me: Would it be crazy to go out of our way to buy an entire case of outrageously expensive mangoes to see if they’re as amazing as they’re supposed to be?

Sara: I’m sure it would be crazy of us not to, if only based on the fact that they were unavailable in the US until somewhat recently. Previously-forbidden fruit must be just as good as actual forbidden fruit, right?

You can’t argue with that.

Lucky for me, our trip to Chicago corresponded with peak mango season. So I fought my way through city traffic to the city’s “Little India” to buy a case of Alphonso mangoes.

I love that the nutrition label tells you what portion of the fruit is edible.

The mangoes were sold only by the case — 14 to a box. But, with Sara’s encouragement, I couldn’t say no to previously-forbidden fruit. And what were the chances I’d be in a city with an Indian grocery store the next time mango season rolled around?

I slipped a couple of mangoes into my purse, along with a big stack of napkins and a couple of knives, and headed to Millennium Park where Sara and a few other friends were relaxing under the Jay Pritzer Pavilion after an afternoon of touristy activities. And we ate the most delicious spring snack ever. Lush, juicy, sweet, and oh-so-messy. An indulgence that seemed too tasty to be healthy.

Now I’m eating them as snacks, slicing them up on my yogurt in the morning, and adding them to salad in the evening. It’s gonna be a good week.