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On my favorite food forum there is currently a thread on the best place to obtain guacamole. The short answer... California.
RWT's mom and stepdad are farmers in central California and have about 135 Hass avocado trees on their 40-acre farm (most of the remainder is planted with citrus and blueberries). From them, I've learned that nothing his better than a "fresh" avocado. By fresh, I mean one that has never, ever been refrigerated. Non-refrigerated avocados are richer, nuttier and buttery-er than those from a grocery store. But take one and refrigerate it, even for a short period, such as overnight, and it will taste like any other store-bought avocado. Certainly still good, but something detrimental happens to avocados when they are chilled.
However, even with "regular" avocados, I've found that you can make better guacamole at home than in most any restaurant. Below is my favorite recipe, but feel free to tweak it to your tastes. It does contain cilantro, so if you absolutely hate it, leave it out. Also some folks like to add a bit of chopped tomato to their guacamole. Personally, I think it just dilutes the flavor of the avocado.
If you are not serving the guacamole immediately, press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the top of the guacamole (it is contact with the oxygen in the air that causes it to darken) and refrigerate.
GUACAMOLEMakes 2½ to 3 cups3 medium-sized, ripe California Hass or similar rough-skinned avocados (do not, I repeat, do not use the big smooth-skinned variety from Florida, see here for more information)
~2 tablespoons juice from 1 lime
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 medium garlic clove, minced (IHMO, this is what makes good guacamole into great guacamole!)
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1 pinch cayenne (I prefer cayenne to fresh jalapenos, both for ease and because I think jalapenos can add a bit too much of a vegetal flavor)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cuminHalve, pit and peel the avocados, drizzle with ~1 tablespoon of the lime juice and mash to the desired consistency. Add the onion, garlic, cilantro, cayenne, salt and cumin. Mix and add additional lime juice and salt to taste.
And for those who prefer graphic instructions...
Ingredients (I've used four avocados here because two were pretty small and one was over-ripe and I knew I'd not be able to use all of that one.)
Slice the avocados in half lengthwise.
Twist the halves in opposite directions to loosen one side from the pit.
Ta-dum!
(Caution: This may be the quickest, but is not the safest method of removing the pit. Proceed at your own risk or be safe and use a spoon to pop out the pit.) Gently, but firmly, whack the sharp side of your knife into the pit...
and twist to loosen the pit from the other side of the avocado.
Remove the pit and discard. (But I am certainly not advising you use such a dangerous method of pit extraction!)
Slice the halves in half so you have avocado quarters (this helps in peeling them).
Pull the peel back from the flesh. If the peel does not come off easily, you can also use a spoon to scoop out the flesh.
Don't be alarmed!!! Here is that avocado that I knew was a bit over-ripe (I could tell because it was too soft -- downright squishy, see here for more information on selecting and ripening avocados). The piece in the foreground shows a darkened over-ripe area and how it can also become a bit fibrous (and long fibers in the guacamole are not very appetizing). The piece in the background shows dark spots that are from bruising. But don't worry, all is not lost...
Simply cut off the dark areas and the rest of the avocado can be used.
Squeeze some of the lime juice over the avocado before mashing (the acidity will help to prevent the avocado from darkening).
I like to use a fork to mash the avocado. If it is too firm to mash with a fork, the avocado was not ripe enough (in a pinch, you can use a knife or food processor to chop an under-ripe avocado, but under-ripe avocados are also usually lacking in flavor and will be merely filler in your finished guacamole).
Don't worry about mashing completely, the avocado will develop a creamier consistency when the rest of the ingredients are mixed in.
And speaking of the rest of the ingredients... stir them in now.
Taste, taste, taste! You will probably need to add more lime juice and possibly salt. The richer the avocados, the more lime juice you’ll need. I like to taste it with one of the chips that I'll be serving it with, especially when trying to determine if it needs more salt since some brands of chips are much saltier than others.
And the finished guacamole. Dig in!
I think I may have been a personal shopper in a former life. Friends and family seem strangely compelled to contact me when they are trying to find something. And I am certainly not complaining. I love the thrill of the hunt.
An oval glass coffee table with a brass/bronze Art Deco base? Sure. Chinese black vinegar? No problem. A driver for a no-name second-hand video card? Done. An artificial Christmas tree in August? No need to wait for Santa.
I’ve found that, with the internet, almost anything can be obtained these days. But you really don’t need me, you can do it too. Here are some of my tricks:
Google – My search engine of choice and the starting point in any internet quest. It also does well with numbers (see here for more information). For example, if you enter an area code, it will give the region covered. Searching a part number (printed in a microscopic font) lead to the identification of that second-hand video card which, in turn, lead to a source for the driver. And remember to use quotes around the search term if looking to exactly match a phrase.
Also at Google, is Froogle, their new shopping search site. It works pretty well for the more commonplace items (such as coffee tables), but falters when faced with the more odd-ball and specialty goods (such as paillete feuilletine).
A bit off-topic, but if you have a newer computer with plenty of RAM, disk space, CPU speed and a quality video card, be sure to check out Google Earth, their new mapping program that utilizes satellite images. A very cool way to find where you are going (or just to look at a satellite picture of your house).
craigslist – Want ads for the cool & hip. This site was started by a guy named Craig in the San Francisco area in 1995, but it now covers cities all across the country. It is a good place to look for cheap, used furniture and other miscellaneous items. Plus reading the personal ads can be quite entertaining. (Just an FYI – the term “420” is defined by Wikipedia as “a euphemism for cannabis and its associated culture” and goes to show you can learn something new everyday.)
Freecycle – Like craigslist, it is structured by region and city, but everything is free. And no item is too small or seemingly worthless to be listed. But there are some really good finds on Freecycle – we obtained a trundle bed frame to use as a base for a daybed RWT plans to build (once he is ready to again face his nemesis, the table saw).
Not only is Freecycle a good source for free stuff, but an excellent method of getting rid of your own junk. A friend put in an ad giving away the ivy that had taken over her yard and people came, happily dug it all up and toted it away.
[A side note – Around the Los Angeles area, anything that is placed out in the alley is scavenged, usually within an hour. Our Belmont Shore next-door neighbor put an executive-sized desk out and within 15 minutes a couple of guys were strapping it to the roof of a car that was shorter than the desk itself. I always threatened RWT that I was going to park his evil little Spitfire next to the garbage cans so someone would haul it away too. Good thing for him and his beloved Triumph that Freecycle did not yet exist!]
Amazon – Even if I don’t buy the item from Amazon itself, the reviews can be very helpful, especially when buying electronics or appliances.
Amazon is also a great source for used books. I just scored a pristine copy of Bruce Healey’s out-of-print and much-coveted Mastering the Art of French Pastry for $100 less than it usually costs. How? I saved the book to my “Wish List” and regularly checked on the “Used & New” price. I had to wait about six months for the well-priced copy I bought to turn up, but it was worth it.
And if you purchase something from one of Amazon’s third-party sellers using “Amazon Payments”, Amazon handles the transaction and the third-party seller does not have access to your credit card information. Plus, Amazon guarantees the item under their regular policy. It is a good way to purchase from a small-time seller with less risk.
eBay – Don’t forget this giant e-flea-market. Just be careful you are not being overcharged on the shipping fees and the final price is competitive (it is easy to get carried away with bidding). Also, be sure to check the seller's feedback before bidding. Yes, eBay is a bit riskier way of purchasing stuff, but for finding discontinued crystal, china and flatware, it cannot be beat.
Well, that is it for now. I feel I’ve done my part in stimulating the economy for today. Happy hunting!
When we first moved to this area a couple of years ago, RWT’s sister lived with us for about nine months until she found a good job, an apartment and some roommates. She arrived with only the possessions that could fit in her vintage BMW (which she totaled within two months of her arrival) and immediately started looking for a bed.
She quickly found a queen-size mattress set with frame for a good price on craigslist and made arrangements to purchase it. RWT took her in our “big” car to pick up the bed from a fifth floor apartment in a building with no freight elevator. They lugged the box-spring down the stairs and loaded it on the car and had just made it down to the parking lot with the mattress when they saw the Bed Owner gesturing frantically to someone standing next to our car.
It turns out that the Bed Owner had already promised the mattress set to someone else (and taken their payment check!) but then thought they were not going to ever pick it up. Actually, the First Buyer had been busy arranging to rent a U-Haul to move the bed and, in fact, the U-Haul was sitting right next to our car. The reason for this whole misunderstanding – the First Buyer was deaf and communication had been limited to only a few brief emails. By writing in the dust of a dirty parked car, the First Buyer conveyed that he still wanted the bed, had paid in full, gone to the expense of renting a U-Haul and was very, very displeased (I think he also made that part clear with a few universally-understood hand gestures). But the Bed Owner would not relent and insisted the deal was off.
RWT asked his sister what she wanted to do and she said she really wanted that bed. Although RWT did not agree with her, he felt that she was an adult now and needed to make her own decisions. So they sheepishly packed the mattress and frame into the car and left the Bed Owner and the First Buyer arguing next to the U-Haul.
They arrived back here with the bed and decided the best way to get it into my sister-in-law’s room in the finished basement was through the side door that opens directly into the basement. Unfortunately, the box-spring could not make the turn at the bottom of the stairs to fit though the door. Nor was the stairwell wide enough for the box-spring to be lowered down to the doorway from above. So they took the box-spring around through the front door to the inside staircase to the basement. And… after much scraping of paint from various walls and the ceiling... it would not fit through there either. There was no way, short of cutting it into pieces, that queen-size box-spring was ever going to get into our basement.
RWT’s sister immediately contacted the Bed Owner for the name and address of the First Buyer to check to see if he was still interested in the bed (which RWT would have been more than glad to deliver and even haul up twenty or more flights of stairs), but the Bed Owner would not give out the information. So it was back to craigslist to sell the queen-size bed (which was temporarily residing in our dining room) and look for a full-size bed. (My sis-in-law briefly considered attempting to sell the queen-size bed for more than she paid, but I assured her that she would most certainly go to hell if she did.)
Within a day, RWT’s sister had procured a full-size bed (which did fit through the inside staircase) and found a buyer for the queen-size bed. But when the sweet young man (also a California native) came to pick up the queen-size bed, I felt really sorry for him. I considered warning him, but decided it was not my place (and he'd probably think I was stark raving mad). However, I fear he is doomed to sleep alone as long as he owns that bed. It is the bad karma bed.
Well, as you’ve probably all noticed, I am just not able to post to my blog every day. Obviously, a total delusion on my part to really ever consider keeping it up for any length of time.
As much as I enjoy writing blog entries, I was doing so at the expense of other things in my life… reading, sleeping, cooking, watching old sci-fi on DVD and, most importantly, spending time with RWT.
Also, RWT’s accident unleashed a bunch of dark stuff within my head. I seriously considered writing about those thoughts here, but for the time being, I’ve decided to abstain. The downside is that those moods make it pretty much impossible for me to write anything other than morose, depressing drivel. And, while things are definitely looking brighter, I still have my moments.
So to try to keep some balance in my life and not drag everyone down, I am aiming for posting something here once a week. Maybe more, maybe less (hopefully not too frequently).
[And I’ll have the time to once again pursue my latest knowledge quest:: learning to identify Eastern U.S. trees, both native and ornamental/yard trees. What is growing in your front or back yard?]
On Monday, Clarence Page from the nearby PBS station, WETA, was using our street as a backdrop (keep your eyes peeled for the front corner of our house on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer during one of Mr. Page’s segments airing sometime within the next three weeks, also be sure to note our garden hose strewn sloppily across the lawn and the neighbor's semi-dilapidated Alfa Romeo semi-permanently parked in front of our house). Now a real television camera, crew and on-air personality in our neighborhood are certainly exciting enough on their own, but it didn’t end there… as they were filming, a red sports car blew down the street at 50+ mph! And, in hot pursuit, was a black pick-up truck moving at a similarly high rate of speed.
Unfortunately, I was in the kitchen chopping veggies for dinner (Thai pepper chicken with carrots, spicy garlic eggplant and rice, if you must know) and missed it. But our neighbor Max, a one-man neighborhood watch, witnessed it all and was more than happy to give a play-by-play account when I ventured outside to throw the vegetable peelings and chicken trimmings into the trash. It turns out the red car was car-jacked and following in the black pick-up was an off-duty policeman. Instead of heading toward the nearby Beltway as expected, the car-jacker drove through residential neighborhoods (with speeds approaching upwards of 80 mph according to the off-duty cop) in an attempt to get to 395 and into D.C..
The guy did make it to 395, but crashed on the 14th Street bridge and that was the end of the chase. The police later returned to our street to get a copy of the tape from the television crew for use in any future legal proceedings (like being found in a car, not of his belonging, crashed into the side of a bridge is insufficient evidence to convict the guy?!?). After getting the scoop from the neighbor, I went inside, turned off the Tivo’ed Iron Chef I was listening to while wielding my knife against the carrots and switched the channel to the local news to hear about the car chase. Nothing. Tried another channel. Nothing again. What is wrong with these people? There was a high-speed chase! Where is the footage?!? Then I remembered… I’m not in southern California anymore.
In southern California, car chases are a favored form of entertainment. This includes high-speed chases, OJ Simpson-like slow-speed chases, and, the most common, low-to-medium-with-bursts-of-high-when-between-clots-of-traffic-speed chases. Maybe because the news people there don’t have snow storms to cover, they rush to even the most serene and short-lived of chases (and ignore the pleadings of the mayor and law enforcement officials that television coverage only leads to more car chases, which is probably true since the car-jackers waving out the car windows to the viewing audience at home is a common sight). And people do watch. RWT and I watch. And we’re not the type of folk who watch “Cops” or shows like that normally. But there’s something about a car chase…
An episode of the short-lived sitcom, It’s Like, You Know…, covered this phenomenon to a tee. In that episode, the characters, who all live in Los Angeles, drop everything to watch a live car chase on television. One guy pulls out a notebook containing statistics from previous chases and the group starts debating the best route for the car-jacker to take to avoid traffic. Then they take bets on the duration of the chase and yell advice at the television. RWT and I were practically rolling on the floor while watching that episode because it is so true.
There is just something compelling about watching a live car chase on television. Initially, it is the curiosity of where it is occurring – I once watched a chase (involving a bus!) that went by the exit to my friend ADD’s house at least a half a dozen times. Then, it is figuring out the overall strategy of the chase – it’s surprising how often the pursued car will make great big circles around the Los Angeles area. But other times they are totally random in their route (lost?) and only very rarely do they attempt to run in a straight line up or down the coast (which almost invariably ends in either mechanical breakdown of the vehicle or simply running out of gas). And what will the police do? Will they use the spike strips? Or will the speeds drop enough for the PIT maneuver? Next comes my favorite part, just how much abuse will the car take before it stops – one guy drove a Ranger Rover over four spike strips (which only blew out the left front tire), then on the flat tire, then on the rim (which got smaller and smaller with each passing mile), then on the end of the axle and finally drove for a few miles scraping the undercarriage of the car on the road surface before grinding to a halt (what a great advertisement for Range Rover!). But once the car stops, I turn it off. I have no desire to witness the actual arrest (possibly due to seeing too much Rodney King incident footage).
I’ve been pondering why car chases are not seen (and I mean this literally, I’m sure just as many occur) as much on the East coast. Perhaps all the trees block good helicopter views or there are not enough long stretches of freeway. Or do we have too much restricted air-space around here for all the newscopters?
But just like putting “The” in front of freeway numbers (“The 101”, “The 405”, and so on), In-N-Out Burgers and ever-present smog, very few things say “southern California” to me like a televised car chase.
My adored nephew is coming to visit in a month and, in preparation for his visit, I am getting the piano tuned. Why? My nephew is a pianist. At one point, he’d planned on becoming a concert pianist, but has since decided that what he really wants is fame and fortune and there are much better ways to go about obtaining those. However, he is still quite passionate about his music and is looking forward to having the time and opportunity to play the piano while on vacation.
Unfortunately, my nephew normally does not get to play as much as he likes because his beloved baby grand did not move away from home with him and is still located at my sister’s house. The piano currently resides in their newly-built music room where it sits innocently, but before that…
First off, a couple of facts about the daily routine at my sister’s house… My sister does not run her A/C at night, but uses a whole-house fan for a couple of hours right before bedtime. The fan is located in the ceiling in hallway between all the bedrooms and with surprising force, sucks air up and out of the house (I suspect it could also suck their cat up and out of the house if she ventures too near while it is running) and draws the cooler night air in through the opened windows. Also, my sister does laundry every night until midnight or so.
But back to the piano. RWT and I were visiting one summer soon after my nephew received his piano. Since this was before the construction of the music room, the piano dominated my nephew’s bedroom. Pretty much all that fit in the room was the piano and the bed and that was the room where we would be sleeping. We’d tried my niece's bunk beds on our previous visit and just could not overcome the discomfort of the wooden slats lurking under the thin mattresses (not to mention the claustrophobia), so we opted for my nephew’s room with the piano looming over the bed.
Around 10:00 p.m., when RWT could not longer even feign semi-consciousness, we said we were heading to bed. My sister then turned on the whole-house fan and started to open windows to let in the cool air. As RWT was wrestling with the blind in my nephew’s room so he could get to the window to open it, my nephew came in a said “Oh, you can’t open the windows in here, the colder air will make my piano get out of tune.” Okay. We’ll just leave the door open and pray for a bit of air circulation.
At 10:15 p.m., we were in bed, the lights out (but still plenty of illumination from the hallway shining through the half-open door) and the whole-house fan sounding like a jet landing on top of us. BZZZZZZ. Time to change loads of laundry in the laundry room right across the hall. RWT then got up and shut (actually, "shut" is a bit too mild of a word) the door. Quieter. Darker. Hotter.
I finally fell asleep only to have vivid dreams that I was clinging for dear life to the edge of a mountain in a rain forest. It was then that I noticed the slant to the bed. When we first went to bed, I thought that RWT’s side seemed lower than mine, but figured he was just sinking into the mattress more since he weighs more. But no. There is a definite sideways tilt to the bed and I was on the uphill side. Every time I relaxed the muscles in my body, I would roll down into RWT. Not necessarily a problem (we can even sleep in a twin bed together, if necessary), but in the stuffy hotness preferred by the piano, it was torture. Warm, sleepy, sleepy, roll, hot, hot, sweaty! Eventually it occurred to me to wake up RWT and have him lay on the uphill side where his greater mass worked to even out the bed or, at least, kept him from rolling down it. Ah, sleep.
It was a great visit as always and the lack of sleep did not stop us from having a good time (and we took our airbed and slept in the family room the next time for an even better time). But, while I love my nephew and I love his piano playing, I still have a few issues with his piano. And I absolutely refuse to sleep with it again.
