[Homestead] new stuff
Akka Homestead
akkabhomestead at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 7 13:07:25 EDT 2008
I grew up in a typical middle class home. Mother was a good cook, but never cooked anything exotic. We almost never ate out-only on vacation to eat seafood while in Florida.
I never tasted Chinese food until I was in college. My only foray into Mexican cuisine was Old El Paso taco shells and McCormick taco mix for ground beef. I think the first restaurant I ate at after I left home was Mexican, and I recall having refried beans and nachos for the first time. I was a fan. Still, it wasn't until about 15 years ago when I finally got the guts to try guacamole. My sister introduced it to me, and I watched her mash the avocados. It was okay, but something about it did not set well with me. I think I was mostly turned off by the color. I dunno.
Recently, I have had urges to try new things and old things in different ways. I am trying to eat more fresh fruits and veggies, so I really eye the produce department when I am in the store. Yesterday, I bought what turned out to be the most perfectly ripe avocado, and today, I made my first ever batch of guacamole. It was just dumb luck that I got one that was perfectly ripe, but I know now what to look and feel for. I used the one avocado, a tablespoon of homemade hot salsa, one fresh-from-the-garden serrano chili pepper, about 1/4 onion-from-the-garden-diced very, very fine, 3 TBSP cilantro, and some lime juice. OH MY GOD. I can't believe I have missed out on this for almost half a century. I recall once buying an avocado once just for the seed. I threw the meat away!!! What was I thinking???
Okay, so now I am totally psyched to try things. The other thing I bought was a mango. I recall trying something with mango years ago, but I did not like it then. It looked like a peach, but tasted differently-can't describe it other than to say that I did not like it. I am thinking of trying it ala Mexican style with chili powder and salt. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Also, what about papaya?
What have I been missing all of these years?
I wish I had a juicer, but I don't. I also don't have any ice cream-don't usually buy sweets.
Akka B
More information about the Homestead
mailing list