Siblings - sheesh!!

Move over!  Let me look too!

I was here first ... sheesh!

Ow!  You're squishing me.  Quit pushing and MOVE OVER!

Ha!  He's gone.  (No way was I going to move over).

I'm baaaack!  Maybe this side will work out better.

Ok, I guess we can both look ...

Success!

Well, my avocados ripened and the "unholy guacamole" was a success!  I think I need to tweak things a little though - like try to perfect my mixing technique and get a spicier salsa - but all in all I was happy. :-)

I actually decided to try another recipe!  This one is called "Potatoes in Paradise" and involves cubing a cooked potato, dicing an avocado (as long as it is ripe like your nose), and wrapping this mixture plus some shredded lettuce into a tortilla.  Maybe someone can explain the difference between cubing and dicing?!  Anyway, it worked out quite well even though I substituted "broccoli slaw" for the shredded lettuce.  I enjoyed it immensely and will make it again.

However, my next venture will be to make a fruit smoothie using soy milk, strawberries and banana.  Having just purchased a mini-blender for the purpose, it will be another first!

If you know me, you will know that food preparation is something I view with horror so this turn of events is quite extraordinary.  Of course, since I am now becoming much more vegan in my food choices (and restaurants have not caught on to this lifestyle as much as I would like), eating in becomes more of a necessity.

Unholy Guacamole and how to find a ripe avocado!

Ok, I'm retired now you see, and one of the things I vowed to myself was that I would take up cooking (something I have avoided religiously).  Well, I bought a PETA vegan cookbook a year ago in preparation for this major life change (cooking that is, not retirement).

Now when I was flipping through the pages (and chuckling over the humourous names of the dishes), I found "Unholy Guacamole" - and it looked really easy:  3 large avocados, 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, one 16 ounce jar of salsa , and salt (to taste).  Just mix it all together and eat with chips, nachos, or by itself!

I had some difficulty finding avocados in the supermarket and I didn't know what cilantro was.  I kept thinking that was the name of something alcoholic (but chopped?!) but then realized that I was thinking of cointreau!  Anyway, I found all the ingredients, came home, found a suitable bowl and began the process ...   

I found my knife was not going through the avocado very well.  Are they normally this hard to cut?!  After quite a bit of effort I cut one in half and found it very hard inside as well as on the outside.  Hmmm.  Ok, time to re-think.  Were they not ripe?  So how does one know when they are ripe?

As I always do when I am in a dilemma like this, I Googled "how to tell when an avocado is ripe".  I found the following advice which made me laugh through each step.  My disappointment was tempered by my amusement. 

How to tell if an avocado is ripe:

Instructions

1)  Press gently on your forehead.  This is an example of how an avocado should not feel when you press on it.  This means the avocado is too firm and not ripe.

2)  Press gently on your cheek.  If your avocado feels this way, do not purchase it.  Your avocado is too ripe and possibly rotten.

3)  Press gently on your nose.  This is how your ideal avocado should feel to your fingertips.  Look for avocados with a little bit of give, but not too mushy.

Well, my avocado feels like my elbow!!  I'll wait a few days and try again.  Stay tuned!