a peek inside the fishbowl

The girls slept over at their grandparents the other night and Mark went out with friends, leaving me flying solo. You know what I had for dinner? Tortilla chips and guacamole. I told Emma the next day and she didn’t quite believe that I didn’t make myself a well-balanced meal. In fact, I could see the wheels turning in her brain: So! Eating what you want for dinner is one of the benefits of being a grown-up!?

The short answer: YES.

The truth is, I really didn’t feel like cooking. What was the point? Besides avocados are one of the healthiest fruits you can eat! The health benefits of avocados are enormous. They are high in “good fat” and can help lower cholesterol.

So I turned to my favourite guacamole recipe. It’s a keeper. Guacamole is one of my favourite appetizers (disregard the fact that I was eating it for dinner). I serve it with tortilla chips, nachos, tacos and quesadillas too.

You will need:

1/4 red onion (or to taste)
1 firm, medium-size ripe tomato
2 ripe avocados
1 fresh jalapeno pepper (I just used half of one because that’s all I had)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional – not everyone likes cilantro. I LURVE IT. And it will make your guacamole taste more sophisticated.)
juice of 1/2 fresh lime
tiny pinch of sea salt

Grab a bowl. Using the course side of your grater, grate the onion and the tomato right into the bowl. Discard the last bit of tomato skin in your hand. I don’t want to be responsible for grated fingers.

Leave some of the accumulated juice. Good guacamole is not too thick, not too thin either. It’s a mighty fine balance.

Grate the jalapeno into this mixture too. WARNING: It’s best to  wear gloves (a plastic produce bag over your hand works too) and do not under any circumstances let the jalapeno juice come in contact with your eyes/lips or any other kind of soft tissue. TRUST ME.

Slice the avocado in half, and separate. Behold its beauty before you go any further:

Remove the pit and scoop out the innards with a small spoon. Using a fork or a potato masher, mash avocado into the tomato/onion/jalapeno mixture.

Take your 1/2 lime and, using your bare hands, squeeze the juice straight into the bowl. (Skip the juicer, this is more fun. And your kitchen will smell nice. Get your fingers right in there. You’ll end up with a tablespoon or so of juice.) Discard peel.

Add cilantro.

Mix with spoon. Decorate with cilantro that you did NOT find on the floor.

It’s not pretty, is it, but it’s GOOD.

Cover (you should put plastic wrap directly on top) and pop it in the fridge to let the flavours meld. (I was only able to wait 10 minutes. It was too close to dinnertime.)

Whether you’re serving it with tortilla chips or tacos, make sure there’s a beer somewhere around, because for some reason guacamole and beer go really well together.

I picked up these really good (and patriotic!) white and red corn tortilla chips at Produce Depot on Carling! Yum.

It was so.good. (By the way, Mark had some too, so please don’t think I ate the whole bowl.)

Let me know if you tried this recipe!

A shade more expensive than the library, cheaper than the bookstore. It’s not too late to grab a book. (This note will remain here until the deadline for the book swap has passed. See below for new blog entries.)

I like the idea of giving my kids an unforgettable experience instead of a toy.

My most recent piece for SavvyMom was about Pinto Valley Ranch.

The girls flipped when I told them where we were going. They went to YMCA horse camp last summer, and Pinto Valley Ranch is where the horsey part of their day took place. After hearing about it for nearly a year I decided it might be (a) Savvy-worthy and (b) worth seeing for myself. And it was.

It is a real ranch; dusty and hot and rather rustic. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I just don’t want to give the impression that it’s the equivalent of a Spa Nordik for horses, with manicured lawns, polished fencing and elegantly upholstered stalls for pampered animals. It is flies and horse poop, big of sky and wide of field. But that’s cool in my books, because This is How It Is.

I spent a lot of time talking to Tracey, the mom who’s running the place right now. She is a hoot. Her parents owned Pinto Valley before her, and she grew up there. Now she and her husband are raising their kids there too. (One of whom was artfully dodging the horses and a shoelace-chewing baby alpaca on his roller blades while I was there.)

Everyone I met was fantastic; responsible, experienced, and friendly. The horses? They were the same, only bigger. I met a lovely soul named Apple Jack.

If you’re looking for something different to do with your kids, GO. You won’t be sorry. It’s a very pretty drive from Ottawa (we actually saw a BEAR on the way there) and your kids will never forget it.

They recently opened up a little diner on the site too, so take advantage of it and time your visit around a meal.

There is trail-riding too, but that’s for folks 11 and over.

Here’s my idea of a nice summer outing :

1. 1) Arrive first thing in the morning.
2. 2) Order breakfast.
3. 3) Buy some time in the pony ring.
4. 4) When it’s all said and done, spend some time visiting the other resident animals. (There were baby peacocks living in the barn when we were there. BABY PEACOCKS.)
5. 5) Drive home.

Warning: this place is cash only, so hit up that ATM before you arrive. There are a few other important things to know before you go too – safety issues, clothing requirements – you can read that over here.

My only fear going to Pinto? Was that the girls were going to want a horse of their own.