A New Love

Lately we - or perhaps I should say "I" since I am the one responsible for buying groceries and placing our order with Farm Fresh Delivery - have been trying to add more variety into our already varied mix of produce that we eat. One thing I have been getting more and more of each week is avocadoes.

People always told me to try giving them to babies so that's exactly what I did with Reiss when he was old enough to start eating some table foods. Back then, it was a no-go. Now, when I cut open an avocado, he and Milla practically come running like cats and dogs do when they hear the can opener running. They can't seem to get enough of these things. I've always liked avocadoes but lately, it's almost like I crave them. We have been eating avocadoes by themselves "on the half-shell" as I call it.

I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence here but having worked in a few restaurants in my day, I've seen all sorts of ineffective methods for getting avocadoes out of their shells. I've seen "experienced chefs" peel avocadoes and then mash the flesh inside to remove the seed. Seriously...what are they teaching at culinary school that a highly trained chef would find it acceptable to mutilate a food to remove the shell and seed? Others have cut off slices with the shell intact and then peeled the shell away. This is a bit more reasonable but still not the best or cleanest method, in my opinion. If you ask me, really, there's only one way to get an avocado out of its shell intact and it's very simple:

With a serrated knife, I slice the avocado lengthwise making certain my knife makes contact with the seed inside. After slicing full-circle around the seed, I take the two halves and twist them in opposite directions to separate them. The seed can then be easily removed by stabbing it with the knife and pulling out gently. With a large spoon, I scoop the avocado away from the shell but leave it in the shell. I then slice the half into four lengthwise slices. From that, each of the slices is a bite for me, or a few bites for each of the children. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, and we have a wonderfully healthy snack.

Reiss and Milla love this new snack idea and when they like something that is good for them, all the better. Some afternoons, we sit and eat avocadoes for our pre-naptime snack. If I forget to wipe their mouths afterwards, when they wake up from nap, it's hard to distinguish between what is dried up snot that ran out their noses while sleeping and what is leftover avocado from our afternoon snack.

Ahhhh, motherhood....Mistaking snot and avocadoes as one another. Does it get any better than that?