i’ve always had a sweet tooth, and have a special kind of weakness for ice cream. since i’ve started cooking, in particular learning about pastry, it’s been something on my mind that’s constantly eluded me in my pursuit of perfectionism. when the first edition of willows came around, i wanted to contribute but i didn’t know how something temporary like a dish would fit into that, and seeing as i’d never written a recipe before, i felt like it had to be perfect. i’m trying to do away with that perfectionism, that rigid need to fixate on something and turn it over endlessly until the idea finally seems ready to start. for this recipe, i decided to try a bottom-up approach. the wonderful @mimingtonn who never seems to be too concerned with making things completely perfect (though they always turn out mind-blowingly beautiful) recently made a set of ceramic plates for me. on the day she gave them to me, we were talking about cooking and she asked about my process for coming up with a dish, which usually starts with ingredients and involves research, planning, adding more detail, restarting, and finally deciding to come back to it later (or not). this time, i decided to go a more right-brained approach- i started with the canvas, these beautiful black and gold-speckle glazed blates, and thinking about colors and working up from there. i loved the idea of a bright, golden yellow with white accent for these. the idea came to make something with mangos to celebrate summer, swirling with white like the mango-vanilla ice cream bars from trader joe’s i used to love as a kid. i macerated the mangoes in lime, going by taste, and improvised the lime-zested white-chocolate crumble that’s inspired by an old work recipe. i’m trying to embrace a more creative side of myself with this, trying to not fixate and be so critical and instead think about it as playing with colors. it feels more gentle and slower compared to the fast-paced energetic environment i’m familiar with, but i like savoring in the sweetness.

@nicojennings