It occurred to me last night as I was eating Tapas Teatro's cardamom vanilla ice cream with mangoes, figs and dates -- a dessert the Helmand is also famous for -- that we could all duplicate this at home by chopping up some mangoes, dried figs, and dates; putting some good quality vanilla ice cream on top; and sprinkling the ice cream heavily with cardamom.

The sangria, of course, cannot be duplicated.

(Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune/MCT)