A Southern Grace: giddy for guacamole (and the goonies)

June 3, 2008

giddy for guacamole (and the goonies)

Yum

Guacamole is so good. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.) It's great as an addition to taco salads, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas (or, as my grandma says, "kiss-a-dill-as"), and other Mexican delights, but frankly, I like it best on a chip. That way I can really taste it. And eat lots more of it without getting weird looks.


Every guacamole-lover has his or her own recipe, tweaked to perfection. Mine includes the best darned avocados I can find (obviously), ripe red tomatoes, crispy jalapeno peppers, lots of verdant cilantro, a bit of lemon juice, cumin, salt, and freshly-cracked pepper. Plus, I like mine chunky, like Chunk from one of the greatest movies of all time, The Goonies. (Here's a tangent for you--John Mayer writes really well, and he's a Goonies fan. Who knew?)


Now, a lesson in proportions:
First, we have what's known as nowhere near enough (also commonly called are you kidding me?):


Next we have close, but no cigar...


Finally, the proper chip-to-guacamole proportion (be sure to use a sturdy chip):


(now we're talking!)

By the way, am I the only one who winces when those blasted TV "chefs" leave luscious avocado behind in the peel? It's too delicious to waste, you goons (not to be confused with Goonies, who are totally groovy)!


(a shell of its former self)

Meanwhile, I've been given two awards! Giz and Psychgrad from Equal Opportunity Kitchen love me, they really love me. They gave me the "I Love You This Much" award, and had some really kind words to write about me and my blogging.


I, in turn, would like to acknowledge these four ladies, who consistently make me laugh out loud, produce an unseemly pool of drool, or (more often than not) both:

Elle from Elle's New England Kitchen
LyB from and then I do the dishes
Nic from Cherrapeno
Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella

The second award was actually from Lorraine, and it was the Arte Y Pico award.


I hereby recognize a few folks who are relatively recent additions to my blogroll but completely entertaining and fabulous:

Lori from LUSCIOUS
Erinn from Sunday Dish
Indigo from Happy Love Strawberry
KJ from A Cracking Good Egg

Thanks for all your stellar work!

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, thanks so much Grace! How cute is that award!? :D

I like your thinking about the amount of avocado on a chip, although whenever I have that much, it always falls apart on me, thus creating a sartorial situation whilst I am busy trying to save my guacamole laden chip!

LyB said...

Aww, I love you this much too, you know! :)

And I also love guacamole, I put tomatoes in mine too. And "kiss-a-dill-as", that made me giggle, a lot!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

First of all congrats for all your awards Grace. Have a huge bowl of guacamole and celebrate:D

Abby said...

I eat guac with a spoon. Seriously. I love the stuff.

And I WISH I could propel a car like Fred! Unfortunately, my feet tingle and ache in the mornings. Along with my hands and fingertips. Darn it. 8 more weeks. Please, God, just eight.

Anonymous said...

only differences with your guac and mine are..I use lime juice rather than lemon...and sometimes if the mood tickles me...a bit of chili power, cayenne and cumin....and I agree...that the ration of guac to chip is very very important..

Mike of Mike's Table said...

rofl, I like the third shot in the series. This is also coincidentally the third guac-oriented post I have read this morning. The gods are speaking to me and they demand guacamole. Looks awesome!

krysta said...

here's what you need to do... fry a corn tortilla, not to crunchy though, unless you have to have it that way and make yourself a guacamole taco. best thing ever. we used to do it all the time until avocados went up to 1 for a dollars or more.

Lisa said...

Great looking guacamole! (Captain Obvious strikes again!) And your proportions look just right.

Nic said...

Oh wow, thanks so much!!!!
Your awards are well deserved - your blog is truly fabulous and very humorous - and the guacamole's not bad either!

Sharon said...

I've never been a huge guacamole fan, but if I do eat it, I like it chunky! Congrats on the awards :)

Peter M said...

I have a coupla' avocados lying around...best to make a guac I say!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the awards, sweetie :) That's one delish-looking guacamole you've got there, btw!

Elle said...

Chunky is the way to go, as is drowning your chip in it. Mmmmm, guacamole. Now I've got to make some, that's all there is to it.

Congrats on your well deserved awards! And thank you, so much for awarding one to me. I'm flattered and thrilled!

Elle said...

Chunky is the way to go, as is drowning your chip in it. Mmmmm, guacamole. Now I've got to make some, that's all there is to it.

Congrats on your well deserved awards! And thank you, so much for awarding one to me. I'm flattered and thrilled!

Anonymous said...

Hilarious! You are so funny. Yummm, guac!

Anonymous said...

Guacamole is one my favorites - what's not to love! I've often said, if I didn't know I was Greek, I do believe I have some Latin blood running through these veins of mine. Have you found any perfect way to keep your guac from turing brown after day one? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Thank you so much for the mention and the kind words! I've stumbled into the world of food blogs and found some amazing people. How cool is that?

Deborah said...

Guacamole is one of my favorite things. I could eat it every day!

pam said...

Thanks for showing how much should be on a chip. I always knew it was supposed to be like that, and now I have proof!

Melanie said...

Avocados are divine. I love your take on guacamole (both recipe and proportion) - you are my kind of guacamole maker and eater.

giz said...

Nice picks on the award.
Guacamole - oh yeah... I put tomato in mine and could just eat it every day

test it comm said...

Thats some nice looking guacamole! I like your chip-to-guacamole proportion!

Vicarious Foodie said...

I love your lesson on proportions! I totally agree.

Congrats on the awards!

Anonymous said...

Ah I just worked on some avocados Sunday night (made avocado crema to go w/ my shrimp tacos.) They are so yummy! Your guac looks delish, but am I the only one who contemplates using leftover guac as a facial treatment? Hahahaha...my avocado crema looked EXACTLY like a spa treatment I've gotten before - I swear!
Love your blog - God bless the South! And I loved your comment on my pancake blog post about sitting stove-side w/ your fork, plate and syrup ready and waiting. My kinda girl!

Susan @ SGCC said...

I just picked up some beautiful avocados today and guess what I'm making! I love a good guacamole. I make mine just like you, except I use lime juice instead of lemon. I'm crazy that way! ;)

Susan @ SGCC said...

Ooops! I forgot. Congrats on your awards! They are well deserved!

PheMom said...

That is my favorite way to eat guac too! Yum!

toontz said...

I love The Goonies, Chunk, and chunky guacamole. I like to eat it just like you, too. Maybe even without the chip...

Anonymous said...

Oh yummy. You are right about leaving the green stuff in the skin..I scrape it till it starts to rip. I also agree with your proportion size! Bring it on.

Anonymous said...

I swear there is nothing better than good guacamole! Your recipe looks terrific!

Anonymous said...

i completely agree with your chip:guac ratio!

Leslie said...

Oh girl..I LOVE LOVE LOVE guac...up until about 1 year ago I thought I didnt like avacado..what a shame I neglected myself by not feeding my self guac just because I THOUGHT I didnt like it!!! SAd!
Thanks for the comment on my heart attack Kentucky butter cake! Make me chuckle first thing in the am!

Chef Jeena said...

I love guacamole.

Great lessons of proportions! It looks really tasty I feel like I need to make some now. :-)

Dana said...

I love guacamole, and I looove the Goonies.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the more guacamole the better. And yes, Goonies Rocks!

Mansi said...

congrats on your awards Grace!

I love avocados too, and fresh gaucamole is my fav! now that I saw your post, i ahve to make some tonight:)

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Love the guac! I totally agree, the chip must be sturdy because that's the only reason it's there - to convey lots and lots of guacamole to the mouth.

Sophie said...

Guacamole is yummy comfort food; in general, I love avocados, especially with salt :D. I like how your grandma says quesadillas :), it's really cute.

Gigi said...

Congrats on your awards! Well deserved! And I'm with you on the chip to guacamole ratio ...the more the better!

Anonymous said...

So glad you posted this as I have been waiting to eat guacamole till I got some instructions. Great tutorial. Congrats on your award.

Anonymous said...

Your preferred guacamole ingredients sound perfect... just how I like it. and the guacamole to chip ratio is even better. And clearly, the only way guacamole should be eaten on a chip.

RecipeGirl said...

What a smackin' great picture of the guac! We are BIG TIME guac lovers here in San Diego. I eat avocados in salad almost daily, but there's nothing like some good guac. I love the chip demonstration pics :)

Emily said...

Ha ha- that's about how much guacamole I put on my chip.

I always accidentally type, Quacamole instead of Guacamole. My left pinky always reaches for that Q.

Albany Jane said...

That 2nd dipped chip - now we're talking!

Anonymous said...

Hellllll yeah! You have the right proportions of guac to chip down to a science, woman! And I am lmfao because I read your gran's word as "Kiss a dill ass." I was all like, "But dill doesn't have an ass....does it? Who is dill?"

Congrats on your awards, sweetie! Very well deserved. :D

Anonymous said...

A,
are you going to grow the pit? I just used some avacado on some tacos and i put the pit in some water - it will sprout it a short 4-6 weeks.
K

eatme_delicious said...

I LOVE guacamole and avocadoes in general. Yum yum. And I agree with how much you load up your chip with guacamole! I always do that. Unless I'm trying to make it last of course.

Lynne Daley said...

Congrats on the awards. Your guac, as my family calls it, looks great! Also, love your blog title.

Anonymous said...

Grace! Thank you for the mention, that's so nice. I only just saw it.

As I sit at work, mourning the loss of Tastespotting, you stepped in and gave me my daily spasm of sudden mouth watering with this post about guacamole. OH YEAH BABY. That's some good, good stuff.

Chus said...

This is what I think: The Goonies