The past two days have been gorgeous here: warm and lovely, with the luminous blue sky and bright white light that signal springtime in Brighton. It’s been so nice out that I’ve found it exceedingly difficult to keep my mind on the matter at hand, namely, the research paper for my Discourse and Communication Analysis class which is due in (gulp) just over two weeks. Unfortunately, there’s only so much conceptual metaphor a girl can take before she needs to shut off her brain and flee into the sunlight.

Happily, warmer weather not only brings about high spirits, it also heralds fresh spring vegetables - and fresh spring vegetables mean it’s time to start eating lighter again. Jeremy and I have a truly endless capacity to eat salad, so our table has been graced with all manner of green things of late: Greek salad, Caesar salad, salad Nicoise topped with seared tuna steaks, green salad topped with cedar planked salmon and dressed with curry vinaigrette, and - now that the tomatoes in the supermarket have stopped resembling styrofoam - the easiest, yummiest tomato salad ever.

Of course, for me, warm weather also kick-starts my craving for all things Mexican, Tex-Mex and generally Southwestern-ish, so tonight’s meal was right up my alley: shrimp soft tacos with homemade guacamole and mango salsa. Mango salsa is a zingy, scrumptious, summery treat, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to bring a bit of sunshine into their kitchen. All you need is a mango, a purple onion, a red chili, a bunch of fresh coriander and a lime. Chop up the mango, onion, chili and coriander (as much as you want of each thing - but don’t skimp with that chili), throw it all together in a bowl, add a generous squeeze of lime juice, give it a bit of a stir - and then admire the fantastic colors and savor the flavor of warmer days.

It may only be the end of March, but summer was in the air at our dinner table tonight.