The mind streches: Guacamole!

Photo courtesy California Avocado Commission at www.avocado.org

As I sit here on a Saturday morning, the first I’ve had off in nearly 2 years (I normaly do the morning Prep shift at my work on Saturaday mornings) my mind stretches to the wonderful world of guacamole.

Why on a saturday morning does my mind stretch there? I don’t know, but i’m going to follow it.
It might be because of it’s wonderful, enduring life granting greenness.
It might be becasue I have had it prepared in so many different ways that it is almost not funny.
It might be because, as a simple dish, it is hard to screw it up, but often is.
It might be because it is on this menu roatation at the resturant I work at.

Our approach is simplicity.  Giving out the recipe would result in my boss to chasing me arournd the kitchen with the potato masher, but I can safely give the the basics.
We concoct it with onion, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, fresh lime juice, cumin, salt and of course the lovely and ripe Hass avocado two ways: mashed and cubed. This adds two layers of texture and taste. The mashed avocado carries the flavors of the salt and cumin and the cubed carries the realization that there is avocado there and works with the onion and cilantro to carry their flavors as well. We serve it with chips and I add a slice or two of tomatoes as color garnish. (one must add a hint of color)

I had to make an order the other evening on the fly for a last minute customer. I was there with knife in hand, ingredients at the ready. Shallot (to replace the onion, no major change in flavor, just smaller adn easier to deal with) minced; pinch of cilantro and garlic, minced; tip of a jalapeno, minced; pinch of kosher salt; pinch of cumin; dash of lime juice; and the avocado. For time’s sake, I only mashed it, not time to cube half of it, so it all went in the work bowl. taste. dash more lime juice and pinch more cumin. Time to go, it will do, but not happy. Not perfect as I think it should be, but received no complaints. And it made a lovely young vegan happy.

On a sad note, guacamole is one of those Mexican dishes that we Americans have bastardized, I’m sure. Created by the Aztecs in pre-Colombian Mexico, adding much needed fat and vitaims to their diet. The avocado was carried to the Old World and settled in Spain, slowly showing up in suitable climantes, as well as coming into more modern cuisine from Mexico by way of Tex-Mex and southern Californian cuisines.
My former Mexican roommates frown on tomatoes in fresh gucamole and so do I.
Often found in your dairy case as a dip, with more sour cream than avocado, or in a jar on the chip aisle, shelf stable and full of preservatives and little avocado. There are a couple of supermarket brands that might compare to fresh made, having been sealed and preserved in high pressure pouches, making it safe to serve and store, but they often lack the fresh taste and texture that a bowl of fresh guacamole garners.

So, i will continue to make guacamole at work and home, keeping true to the flavors of the avocado, adding only what is needed to bring out it’s flavor and texture.

Taxing Soda?

Inspired by Chuti’s post yesterday about legislating the use of salt in restaurants, I thought maybe I’d write about something that’s happening in my own hometown of Philadelphia.

Photo courtesy Gem at flickr.com

Philadelphia has two big problems. Not only are we are the 20th fattest city in America but we also have a $150 million budget deficit. So our mayor has decided to tackle both these problems with one solution… the Healthy Philadelphia Initiative. What exactly is this “initiative?” It’s a tax that will be levied against “sweet” drinks in the City of Philadelphia. This would include soda, chocolate milk and even sports drinks. The plan is to add a 2¢ tax per ounce to these drinks. Now that doesn’t sound like a lot of money but it means that 20oz bottle of Coca-Cola will have it’s price increased by 40¢ and a 2-liter bottle of soda would cost an extra $1.35. But it doesn’t stop with soda: “sweet” drinks are defined as ANY drink with sugar added to it and that would include Gatorade and Red Bull. A standard 32oz bottle of Gatorade would have an extra 64¢ tacked on and an 8.4oz bottle of Red Bull an extra 17¢.

Now on the surface, I think this is crazy. I don’t think that we should tax sugary drinks to get people to stop drinking them. This “initiative” seems to be more about making money to help offset our budget deficit. The city estimates they could bring in an extra $77 million at the current rate of consumption, which sounds amazing and not at all a bad idea, but if this “initiative” works and people stop drinking sugary drinks then the tax revenue won’t be there, and then the deficit stays, local business owners suffer, as do the bottlers, distributors, etc.

According to the articles and news reports, Philadelphia is not the only city to propose a tax like this. There are seven other states, including Massachusetts and New York, that are thinking about this type of tax. One city actually has this sort of tax—Chicago. However, Philadelphia’s 2¢ per ounce tax is far more than Chicago’s 3% soft drink tax. Chicago’s tax adds only 7¢ to a 20oz Coca-Cola (priced at $1.35) and, in Philadelphia the same $1.35 20oz bottle of Coca-Cola would cost $1.75! Also, adding to the absurdity, this tax is 32 times the current tax in Pennsylvania on beer which is only 1¢ per pint.

So, I’m torn. I do want the city to get their money to help offset the budget deficit, but I don’t think this is the right way. I also think it’s completely disingenuous to say we want to do this to keep people from drinking these drinks when the truth is we want them to drink as much as possible to raise the needed tax revenues.

What do you think?

New York Salt Ban in restaurants—Are they F*@!ing Crazy?

Some crazy lawmaker in New York is trying to pass a bill that would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.

What? Are they F*@!ing Crazy?

“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises,” the bill, A. 10129 , states in part. Violator would be fine $1000 for each violation.

They want consumer to be able to control the amount of sodium they consume at the table rather than in the kitchen.

This is just absurd!! To me, if I want to control my fat/sodium intake, I would just stay home and cook. How hard would that be? I do understand where they are coming from, but who wants to go out for a meal that tastes completely bland and unseasoned. I am tired of hearing about lawmakers trying to control what people eat. It was the trans fat first, then corn syrup, and now salt. Before you know it, they would make the consumer cook their own food at the table. May as well stay home and cook.

I am going to eat what I CHOSE to eat at the restaurant. If they want to warn me about it, I’m cool with that, but don’t try to make a stupid law to control what I eat. If you are in New York, voice your opinion, so the bill won’t get passed.

Read the related article HERE