Saturday, February 8, 2025

Ohhhhh! Have fun with your new bike!

Very cool! You will need a leather jacket though LOL.

Woot! Pix, pix!

I've never been to a Galentine's party, but boy would I love to do so! Maybe I'll gen one up this week around here. :)

144.0

Out of curiosity and a quick check and tallying- 1978 first year contract just at $10, 000 (assuming a 40 hr work week ) and not including 2 summer months with out pay, I averaged $6.25/hr. Sounds pitifully meager, however, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment on Chicago's Near North Side today is around $2,600 / month not including utilities ( my source on Google sets those at $350/month). In 1979 my rent for a nifty 1bedroom, same locationIncluding utilities, was $195.

The guacamole salad ....same ingredients as yours probably are, the difference is in the preparation. Objective being to avoid the typical smooth, junior baby food consistency and instead trying to keep the flavor of each ingredient separate while maintaining a "chunky " mixture- a perfect marriage - separate but equal while bringing out the best of each other. So, then, some thoughts

Size and chunkyness is your personal preference- as is ratio of ingredients

Choose fully ripe Avocados that are not very mushy. Split in two, saving back the seeds. Leaving the skin attached, cut a grid through the fruit (again, sized as you please)scoop fruit from the skin with large spoon into your mixing bowl.
Chop onions and add to bowl. You want the sweetest and mildest you can find.

Tomatoes- preferably ripe out of your garden- but, hey it's winter so the only thing you will find are hot house. They will have the texture you want, but are virtually tasteless-So-what I do is purchase a can of quality brand whole tomatoes ( these Are sunvined ripened and flash processed - taste is superior.

Buy some so called "fresh" tomatoes. Peel them and chop into chunks. Combine them with the canned tomatoes loosely chopped, and "marinade" in fridge for a few hours or overnight. Have ready when needed and, using slotted spoon, drop as many as needed into avocado/ onion mixture. Add salt and pepper and a drop or so of your favorite hot sauce.

Now, the glue: lemon juice, maybe a bit of garlic, sour cream, (I use my Yogurt Greeked to the consistency of sour cream with a bit of mayo for tartness) and whatever bit of tomato juice needed for the consistency you want.

Combine everything with a light hand letting a bit of avocado to blend in. Adjust quantity of glue till it is just right (you will know what that is). Often for me it is the lemon and salt/pepper that's off. Finally, push those saved avocado pits into the top of your salad, cover and chill. The pits in the bowl fool the avocados into thinking they are still intact and they will not turn brown. Remove pits just before serving. I will return them to any leftover and the avocado salad will still be green the next day.

Easy breezy. If you hung around this long, I am amazed! Smiles your way.

We do the chunk style too, sort of like a Cerviche. Its how my BFF who lives in Mexico City taught us.

Thanks for the recipe. Sounds delicious! I always prefer the table side made guacamole that is chunky to the smooth versions! Yum!

Sounds delicious - I make mine a bit mashed and a *****unky but I bet DH would like it more chunky. Interesting that you used some canned tomatoes for flavor... And no cilantro. I never heard the trick about the pits - great idea!

Fresh chopped Cilantro is the main ingredient in my Pico de gallo which generally accompanies the guacamole and oftentimes liberally tops the salad. I used to leave the pits in the salad until I realized those pits sometimes were mistakenly taken out for eating, although I never did see any one actually eating one.

I'm with you all on the "chunky is much better" standard for guacamole. I abhor the grocery store guacamole for that reason.