the best guacamole. ever.

 I believe I have mentioned before that I love avocados. Love probably isn't a strong enough word. I actually didn't know how much I loved them until I tried guacamole made by my friend Laura, two years ago. (The sunny weather on the back balcony and the cool beer didn't hurt, either.) After professing my love for her guac, she kindly told me how to make it. It was so simple, I couldn't believe it. So here it is: you will need one avocado, half a lime, half a shallot and a clove of garlic. Either chop it all up and blend with a fork, or throw in a Magic Bullet blender or similar. Throw in some salt and pepper to taste. That's IT. You can double or triple or quadruple accordingly, and sometimes it doesn't hurt to throw in more lime juice. Nick also sometimes keeps it chunky and puts in tomatoes and orange or grapefruit chunks, something we discovered in San Antonio last spring, but then, he's not really a recipe kind o' guy.

Laura also taught me that the trick to preventing it from going brown is to throw the pit into the bowl, once the guacamole is done. My geeky friends tell me that there's no science to back this up but science, shm-ience ... it seems to do the trick. Besides, there's nothing like fresh guacamole to signal that patios and flip flops are right around the corner!