Guacamole Recipe

I had some ripe avocados and thought to make guacamole. With my baby weight loss project I have not had tortilla chips in a while. Below is the recipe I use to make fresh guacamole at home. It is very easy and fast to make and serves as a great appetizer for nice warm summer evenings with beer.

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado, seeded and peeled
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh cilantro
8-10 cherry tomatoes, chopped (or 2 regular tomatoes)
juice of 1/2 of lime
Salt and pepper

Preparation:


1. Cut avocado in small pieces and then using a fork mash it. I use a medium size glass bowl to do this.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the avocado and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. I like my guacamole to be chunky.  Serve with tortilla chips. And as always you can vary amount of each ingredient to your liking.

Growing Tomatoes - Part I

This is the first year when I decided to plant tomatoes in my back yard. I asked few people around at work where to get some tomato starts and the response was - Seattle Tilth Plant sale. That's where we went. To avoid the crowds I paid for 2 tickets to attend their pre-sale on Friday. We went and got 15 tomato plants, few cucumbers, green peppers, herbs, broccoli, radicchio and even an eggplant! My mom and I planted them in the pots and my husband built a tiny greenhouse to protect tomatoes from the cold. The summer has not been the hottest this year but all the plants seem to be doing alright. We already ate several tomatoes - Stupice and Cherry, couple cucumbers and a pepper. Plus we have also been enjoying fresh herbs.

And this is the picture I took last night of the tomatoes I picked in the garden. It was very satisfying to eat our own fresh homegrown tomatoes. I will give another update on my tomatoes in few weeks.

Tea Cups from Imperial Porcelain Factory

This year for my birthday I bought 4 cups with saucers from the Imperial Porcelain Factory in Russia (also known as Lomonosov).  They finally arrived today. I bought them on ebay from a seller in Russia. This is a very famous and old factory in Russia that was founded in 1744. The factory produces high quality hand painted porcelain. Their products are expensive but beautiful. See for yourself.

Silver Spoon for Him

It is a tradition in my family to give a silver spoon for the baby's first tooth. We got one too.

Black Currant Spread

Last week I stumbled upon some fresh black currants at QFC. We decided to make fresh black currant spread to use on toast, with yogurt and other things. It is very easy to make and list of ingredients is short: black currants and sugar. I use 1 lb of currants with 1 lb of sugar. Yes, croissant above is from Crumble & Flake.

I use regular blender to blend sugar and currants. Once done, I transferred black currant spread into the glass jars and store them in the fridge. The spread is sweet and tart - I like it.

Crumble & Flake

Last week I was taking a bus and we passed Crumble & Flake patisserie. I vaguely remembered that some big chef was supposed to open a pastry shop on Capitol Hill sometime this spring/summer.


The next morning we stopped by and picked up few items to try. The place is small - no place to sit, just order and go. Selection is limited but all pastries and cookies look small and elegant. From the reviews it sounds like they sell out fast. We got there 1.5 hours after opening and found decent selection. We bought Marionberry macaron, nectarine and lavender scone, croissant and apricot financier. Macaron was the best in the bunch for me.

Lunch with Produce from Sunday Farmers Market

I love going to Sunday Farmers Market. This morning we walked to it, bought fresh lettuce, fresh cheese, baguette from Columbia City, came home and made a nice lunch. Love this time of the year!