Friday, May 11, 2007

Three Latest and Best

Yellow Curry at Jasmine Thai: "Which strip mall?" Only on 96th Street do you find yourself wondering which generic strip mall contains the restaurant you're eating in. This one happens to be in the same strip mall as Moon Dog Tavern. But having had some really awful experiences at other Thai restaurants in the past, I was pleasantly surprised when our curries where quite tasty. My green curry had green beans in it (strange) but tasted good. My friend's yellow curry, however, was sublime. It doesn't displace Sawasdee for me, but provides another northside option.


Pastries from Rene's Bakery: O, dearest chocolate bourbon pecan pie, how do I love thee? I love thee almost as much as I love the lemony blueberry bread pudding with its crusty sugar coated top. I love thee almost as much as the rich ganache-covered chocolate torte. OK, no way do I love you as much as that chocolate torte from Rene's in Broad Ripple, but still, I like you. Really, I like you a lot.

Food of the Week: Guacamole! When I stumbled across that Costco bag of perfectly ripe avocados last weekend, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. OK, I knew, but I went for it anyway. Four days and five batches of guacamole later, I'm ready for summer! How do I make it? Ripe avocados, tangy tomatillos, juicy tomato, chopped cilantro, and lots of lime and sea salt. Everything chunky and mixed just enough. With fresh, crunchy chips, nothing could be better!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Help! Do you have any tips for picking the perfect avocado? It seems almost everytime I buy one it is a little "funky".

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Not sure what you mean by "funky". Most grocery store avocados are hard as a rock. I try to pick ones that are slighly soft to the whole hand. That is, I put my entire hand around it and uniformely see if the whole thing is a bit soft. The softer the better -- to a point. I don't like squishy. Also, I like gauc that still looks like avocado. I don't over mix and mine never is smooth. (I can't eat the pre-made kind.) I just slice the avo, take out the pit, then use a knife to score it (mango style) in small pieces. Scoop it out, and mix just enough in the bowl with other ingredients. I do remove any brown spots. I know they're OK but they gross me out.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I think maybe my "funky" avacados were a little too squishy. Mine always seem to be more brown than anything and I end up chucking them.

I shall soon try again. :)