Holy guacamole!

"Not another blog!" you say. But this one is different. This one is about food. I could spend countless hours rambling about my favorite restaurant or the smell of the freshly picked produce at the farmers market or the times I've made food more suitable as household cleaning agents rather than as edible delights. While I can't guarantee regular updates, I'll probably have enough inspiraton to write good entrees! (where are those goofy accents when you need them?)

Last night, I went over to Jeremy's for a cookout he was having. Whenever I go to a cookout, I always feel like it's a great excuse for me to splurge and make something that I might not make for myself. Although guacamole isn't quite a splurge, it was something I had only made once before - actually, only a few days before - and it hadn't come out quite right, so I wanted to make it right this time. It didn't hurt that Publix had avocados on sale 2/$1, so how could I pass up such an opportunity (note, that price is good until Tuesday, so go get you some!)

I took the guacamole to the party, and it turned out to be quite a hit. I think I have higher expectations of my food than anyone else, so I didn't think it was that great, but everyone seemed to think that it was just that great. You know how people will tell you they think something is good if you make it, but only when it's really good will they go out of their way to come tell you that it's fantastic. So I guess the guacamole hit the spot.

When people started asking me for the recipe, I couldn't really say, because I hadn't really followed an exact recipe. Unless I'm baking, I take recipes more as a general suggestion than an exact blueprint to engineer the perfect dish. It's because the ingredients you use are almost inevitably going to vary. Sometimes, the avocado may taste a little sweeter and other times, it may taste a little richer. Same holds true for other vegetables, fruits, meats, even spices. What I learned in my past year of cooking is that using fresh ingredients and acquiring a good taste is more important than any recipe. What I mean by acquiring good taste is to fine tune your taste buds. From my experiences, it's a lot like listening in a cappella. You have to really focus on listening to the pitches and the blending if you want to sound good. While some people can do this pretty naturally, for most people, it takes effort, but it IS something one can improve.

When I made this guacamole, I looked up some recipes to get a feel for proportions, and then, threw some stuff together and adjusted the taste to get to a good point. One of my favorite sites for finding recipes is Epicurious because it lists lots of user comments and ratings. Go take a gander over there to get an idea of basic guacamole, and make it for yourself. Or you can try what I did (but this is only an approximation).

Holy guacamole

-serves 1 if eat like me, but maybe up to 12

Ingredients:
4 ripe Hass avocados
3 tbsp. lime juice (juice from about half of a lime)
1 large Roma tomato seeded and diced
1/2 small yellow onion diced
1 large clove of garlic minced
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1. Mince garlic, place in bowl.
2. Cut open avocados and scoop out the innards. Squeeze lime juice on top. Place in bowl with garlic and mash with fork until desired chunkiness.
3. Add tomato, onion, salt, pepper, cumin, and mix. Adjust seasoning as necessary.

As with any food, this tastes better if you let it sit a bit and let the flavors meld, so make it an hour or so in advance.

The picture at the top is a picture of the mortar and pestle like thing that is traditionally used in making guacamole. If anyone wants to be really nice and get me one, I'll make you the most delicious guacamole in the world!