Guacamole

Over the weekend I ate processed guacamole, and I feel I've betrayed all that is Southwestern and natural. There is no reason to eat processed guacamole. Don't know where guacamole originated but I suspect it's a Spanish-speaking place and I don't know where acavados come from, originally, but it ain't New Mexico or I'd have a tree in my back yard. Still, guacamole is standard fare around here, along with sour cream and salsa. Yum! I eat it with blue corn chips, fajitas, and whatever else I can get away with.

I was telling my sister I sinned and ate processed guacamole and she asked me how I make it. I'm like... "With a fork?"

She laughed, but that is actually an important clue. You do not blend guacamole. You really don't even need to use a knife if your avacado is ripe, but if you want you can do this neat little trick:

Slice your avocado in half, working the knife around the pit longways. Put the knife down, twist the halves, and pull them apart. Slam the knife blade into the pit so it sticks there, and then twist/wiggle the knife until the pit comes out. Practice this honey, you'll have your own cooking show in no time!

Don't throw the pit away! Bury it in the bottom of your guacamole to keep it from turning brown.

Spoon (or fork...or spork!) the avocado out of the skin and plop it into a bowl. Toss in the ingredients below and mash it until just mixed, with a fork. NO BLENDERS PLEASE! It's not soup.

Here are the other ingredients:

• Lemon juice
• Salt
• Chopped fresh tomatoes
• Jalapeno -- fresh. Diced. DO NOT put your fingers in your eye after dicing. Trust me. And remember, the flavor spreads after the dip sits for awhile. Careful, gringos.
• Garlic (I use dried and granulated to get the flavor spread around more quickly than the smashed fresh, but if you're a purist...well, smash the fresh)

How much of everything? Well, that depends. The flavor should be balanced. Not too much lemon, not too much salt, generally not too much jalapeno unless you're showing off how much chile you can handle. Definitely not too much garlic. Avocado should be the main attraction.

Some people I know like to substitute a tablespoon or two of salsa for the tomatoes and jalapeno -- now that makes for a really quick guacamole.

Serve in a bright bowl, fresh. Not processed. :-(

Soul of the Cook

One of my favorite cookbooks is online. It's called Serving the Guest: A Sufi Cookbook and Art Gallery. It's been up for years, thankfully(!) so whenever I need to fix something simple but unique and different from my usual New Mexican and kid food cuisine, I like to try new things from there.

But tonight I'm making an old favorite, called Tabakh Ruhu, or Soul of the Cook, a delicious eggplant and tomato dish with meat. I make it with ground lamb and fire roasted tomatoes and serve it over rice. For my veggie friends, I'll make a separate pot with tofu, which I haven't actually tried before.

And now I'm off to shop for groceries and a new rice cooker! I'm looking for one that is not aluminum and is bigger than my 2-cup standby. It has proven not so easy to locate -- Walmart was out so I don't even know what they carry. I hit a couple of similar stores with no luck so I think I might have to go to a cooking store or department store. Wish me luck, dinner is at 7:00!

Millions of Colors, So Little Time. And Space.

These days there are hundreds and hundreds of colors of Delica beads (for the non-beaders out there among my 12-minus-3 loyal readers -- I'm pretty sure 3 bailed after the McCain Photoshop Incident -- Delicas are Miyuki's brand of tiny cylindrical Japanese beads). A lot of the colors are surface variations of the same core bead colors; you know, a matte surface or a rainbow (AB) surface. And then there are the transparents. And the matte rainbow transparents (Ok, I might be making that up!) Still, that's a lotta color to play with.

At a recent workshop I wrote in my handout that the human eye can discern about a million different colors. Well, that info was based on my notes that are at least 10 years old, so last night I googled for:

how many colors can human eye see?

(Well first of all let me just say you couldn't pay me enough to be the lab rat that had to distinguish a million colors. Can you imagine the eye test for that??? I mean, I like color but I seriously doubt I could sit still that long.)

So here's what I found. Seems opinions range quite a bit. Suffice to say, it's a lot more than Miyuki makes. Fortunately beads are compact.

• Ask Yahoo says "nobody knows" and "millions and millions.
• WikiAnswers says "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" and never answers the question. I did find out I'm a trichromat with a 10% chance of having an extra color receptor, though. Gads!
• On a different page, WikiAnswers cuts the blahblah completely and states, simply: between 35k and 55k. Unfortunately they don't explain what a "k" is. I think it's thousands?
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says some women can see 100 million colors. Pity the housewife who had to prove that.
• The gods and goddesses on Mount Wikipedia say it's . . . to tell ya the truth I couldn't FIND the answer but this line did pop out (ew!): "Eyes can be eaten by humans; in some countries" LOLOL!
• The RGB video phreaks at ArsTechnica variously claim the number is 3 million, 16 million, and fortunately somebody over there named stickboy got everybody back on track by pointing out humans don't see in bits and bytes. {SNORT!
• I found an interesting article at The Visual Body, but unfortunately my cone cells got fatigued before I located the answer. ;-)

When I dig up my favorite color & physiology link, buried in my notes somewhere, I'll revisit this topic because now that I've been entertained by the above, I really would like to know who decides this stuff and whether it's based on a guess or an actual study.

P.S. I stole the little Delica images above from Sandi at Stormcloud Trading Company. Tell her Miz Mary sent ya. ;-)

Sage Dreams

I finally found some time this weekend to roll out a new pair of earrings in my Etsy shop. Is that pitiful? One pair??? Got a stash by my computer just waiting to be photographed! ARgh! Too busy.

Had class all afternoon yesterday and then went on a date with the DH to his coworker's birthday party at a Mexican restaurant. They had a band there called Vanilla Pop. I don't know if that was a reference to the music, their ethnicity, or the fact that the woman sitting next to me though the lead singer had to be the blonde-wigged, sunglassed bass player's dad. They were it, by the way -- just the two of them. One keyboard, one electric guitar he occasionally swapped for a bass, a drum machine, recorded horns, and a bubble machine. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or just get up and dance. After a margarita I did find myself shimmying in my seat to Neal Diamond, Frank Sinatra, and a catchy little version of Ring of Fire sung with a British accent. Well, who's to judge -- it's a living, right?

Today is the last day of the Fair and Junior's kung fu hopping, er, fighting. This year after their stage performances they were hired to also wander the streets in their Chinese dragons, causing mischief in the crowd, and working in a few flips and jumps when space permits. Next weekend I shall be free!

Anyway...back to the earrings:

Sage Dreams Archetype Earrings
Vintage cabochons, stamping, and rhinestones; decoupage

Meinrad Craighead

Years ago on a hot summer evening I stumbled into what I thought would be a poetry reading at Full Circle Books (the now, unfortunately, defunct women's bookstore in Albuquerque). Instead I came into a full out sacred ceremony involving, as I recall, cool water from the Rio Grande, some crystals, bunches of wildflowers, a bunch of other women, and the art of Meinrad Craighead. (I'm sure there must have been candles, too...) She had just published Litany of the Great River, featuring words and her unique, small scale artwork delving into images of the divine feminine. I cherish my signed copy, and have bought a calendar of her images every year that I could find one at Wild Oats. 8-)

Last weekend a feminist show opened at UNM, with Meinrad and Judy Chicago as jurors, and although I haven't been able to attend yet, all week my recollections of her rich artwork, and the influence she's had on me, have swirled around in my mind and dreams. So here are some resources to share with you:

• Google Image Search
• Crow Mother and the Dog God, a limited preview from Google Books
• A bio from Spiral Muse
• Her visual interpretation of the Song of Songs
• About a documentary on the artist (psst, the river images are right down the road from me)

Enjoy, and be inspired!