My favorite way to make Guacamole

One of my favorite foods is guacamole. Mmmmm.

I'm also kinda picky about it. I don't like my guacamole with sour cream, tomatoes, or too much onion flavor. I want the flavor of the avocados to be the star, I guess you could say I'm an avocado purist.

The texture is important to me too. I don't like having my guac too mushy or a jumble of chunks, there should be a good chunkiness to creaminess ratio.

Most grocery store bought guacs do not fit my specifications, so I've developed my own recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Avocados


• 1 Jalapeno, seeded


• 1 Small shallot or about 1 tablespoon chopped


• ¼ c. Cilantro


• Juice of ½ lime


• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

When you're shopping for the avocados you should be looking for a deep dark green/black color on the ouside and just soft enough that there is a little give when you press thumb into them. If they are green they are under ripe. When you squeeze if they feel soft then they are probably overripe. Under ripe can be solved by placing the avocados in a paper bag when you get them home. They should ripen up within a couple days. Avoid geting over ripe 'cause they can't be fixed.

Dice the avocados. Slice each avocado in half. Then give the pit a good whack with a knife so that the knife gets partly embedded in the pit and twist. The pit should pop right out. Next make parallel slices in the avocado flesh, followed by slices in the opposite direction to make little rectangles. Finally take a spoon and scoop out the diced avocado into a bowl.

Chop the shallot, jalapeno, and cilantro. You can add as much or as little as you like. I use shallots because they have a little bite but don't have an overpowering onion flavor.

Most of a jalapeno's spice lives in the ribs and seeds, so if you want your guac spicier leave the seeds and ribs in half the jalapeno. If you're a wimp when it comes to spice then make sure to remove all the seeds and ribs.

For some inconceivable reason some people don't like cilantro. If you are one of these people just use some flat leaf parsley instead.

Dump the shallot, jalapeno, and cilantro in the bowl with the avocado.

Roll the lime on the counter before you cut it, it’ll help get the juices flowing. I usually use about half the lime, but it depends on how ripe your avocados are. The less ripe the avocado the more you'll be able to taste the lime and vice versa. So add a little at a time, you can always add more later. I usually only use about half the lime.

Add the salt and pepper. Again the amount of salt depends on the ripeness of the avocado, so add a little at a time. I use about a teaspoon or less. Mix everything together using a stirring and chopping combo to make it somewhat creamy and somewhat chunky. Taste, adjust seasonings as necessary.

Grab some chips and enjoy!

Download my recipe

Birthday Bear

I've been waiting to blog about this since its a gift. This was intended to be a birthday gift for my youngest neice, Anna. But I was a little late on finishing it. So then I was going to send it for her baptism a couple weeks later, but since I decided go home this weekend I thought it could wait some more :)

The Pattern: Cashmere Teddy Bear by Erika Knight 
The Yarn: Jo Sharp DK Wool in Oak 910 purchased from yarn.com
Needle size: 4

Started: April 18
Finished: May 3

I pretty much followed the pattern to a T. Except for the little heart I added to the butt.

I thought it made it a bit more special and was extra cute. I think I may have stuffed him just a wee bit too much, whoops.

The bear is knit in seven peices (2 body/leg peices, 2 arms, 2 ears, and the head). There is a lot of seaming and I hate seaming. I'm just not good at hand sewing and its tedious. If I were to make this again I'd try to figure out how to modify it to combine some of the peices. I also wasn't thrilled with how the face seamed up, it doesn't look as polished as I'd like.

The plus side to this is that it is a pretty fast knit (minus the time for sewing all the peices together). And it is a great stash buster. I was able to use up a skein that had been rolling around in my knitting bag for a few months.

Overall I think he's pretty cute. My french knots and stuffing techniques could use some practice, but he's presentable.

69 Meters and other public displays

Over the weekend I noticed this new addition to the parking meters in my neighborhood.

This is a part of the '69 Meters' art installation commissioned by the Montague Street Business Improvement District. Magda Sayeg, founder of Knitta Please, and 50 volunteers knit these colorful sleeves that are now covering all of Montague Street's parking meter poles.

Knitta Please is group of knitters from all over the world who display their knitting in public spaces, think of it like knitted graffiti.

Its kinda cool right? All these knitters comin together makin these tactile public displays.

Looking at this reminds me of Lacey Jane Roberts work.

I first read about her in the Winter '08 issue of Interweave Knits. She installed her Pink Fence peice in Clarion Alley located in San Francisco, California. Roberts stuff is pretty amazing, large works with very strong messages.

It also reminds me about the Knit Knot Tree. Which in looking it up again I've found that it was inspired by the Knitta group's work.

To find out more about the '69 Meters' installation check out the Montague BID website or on Knitta Please.
You can also download a guide listing all of the knitters names and the location of their peice here

Leyburn

So what was I knitting during our trip?


Pattern: Leyburn by Pepperknit
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in Peacock, less than one skein
Needles: US 2

Started: April 1
Finished: April 25


This is my first 'pair' of socks. I have knit a sock before, but I never got around to knitting the second sock :) Apparently I don't like to knit the second halves of socks and mittens, because I still haven't knit my second druid mitten either.

I decided to knit Leyburn two at a time so I wouldn't lose interest before completing the pair. For those of your who've never knit two at a time, it just means that you cast on for both socks at the same time. Each sock uses a separate ball of yarn. Actually I didn't have two balls of yarn. So I just used the center pull of my ball and the end from the outside. Then as you work you alternate knitting each sock (one row for sock 1, then one row for sock 2). This helps make sure you knit the same amount of rows for both socks (two at a time is good for sleevs too). And it has the added benefit of avoiding running out of yarn on your second sock.


This is a toe up pattern. Instead of using the instructions provided I used Judy Becker's magic cast on. I also used Purlwise's short row heel instructions since I'd never done a short row heel before.


They ended up being a little big. I should have used a sz1 needle. When I got to the leg I realized that they were going to be too baggy to stay up so I decided to make them ankle socks instead.


For my first pair of socks I think they turned out well.

Morocco

We stayed in Marrakech for 6 days, but took two day trips. One across the Atlas Mountains to Ouarzazate and one to Essaouira on the western coast.

Highlight pics from Morocco:

Gueliz, Marrakech's commerical district

Food stall in Jemma el Fna

Souks

Marrakech Museum of History and Art. The building is the actual attraction.

Marrakech Museum of History and Art. Very detailed decoration.

Knitting at our riad

Atlas Mountains (En route to Ouarzazate)

Ait Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Holding a goat, they like to climb the Argan trees and eat the nuts. The Berber women use the Argan nuts to make cooking oils and cosmetics.

Essasouria

Essasouria is know as the 'Blue City', conversely Marrakech is known as the 'Red City'
(The reason apparent in the coloring of the buildings).

View of Bab Doukala from our rooftop. Several times every day they sound the call to prayer.
It starts at 4:30 AM

Where we stayed:

Dar Vedra, a riad own by two Frenchmen. The staff was very nice and the riad was beautiful. Breakfast is included and if you'd like you can request lunch or dinner. We ate dinner there one night, the chicken and olives was fantastic.

Restruarants:

La Maison Arabe. We were intending to go to a different restaurant, but they were full and so we ended up here. We arrived about 8 and it was empty except for one other couple, but they were really anxious about whether we had a reservation or not. It did start getting busier about 8:30. They have live musicians (at least for dinner) and the beef and pear tagine was sooo good!

Dar Moha was the place we had intended to go, we ended up going on Saturday night instead. I recommend requesting a table in the garden when making your reservation. It is a prie fix menu. They only offer one starter, which we were told was a traditional Moroccan salad. It consisted of nearly a dozen small dishes of vegetables prepared in a variety of different methods, my favorite was the pumpkin. I'm not sure what was in it, but it was good.

Chez Chegrouni is right off the square (Jemaa el Fna) and it has good, cheap food. We went there the first night we arrived and went back for lunch later in the week.

A couple recommendations:

Take along a french dictionary or phrasebook. Next to Arabic and Berber French is the most common language. Most shop owners and waiters speak at least a little English, but it is common for restauarants to have menus only in French or Arabic.

If there is something you're planning to buy I'd research it first or ask the manager of your riad for advice beforehand. Bargaining is expected in the souks, so having an idea of what price to aim for helps. And knowing what the item should look like and its key features will help you to avoid buying a bogus item. Most of the people are nice and trustworthy, but like anywhere else in the world there are those that will take advantage of naive tourists.

Things I wish we'd done:

The only thing I wish we'd been able to do is go camping in the desert.

That and taken a picture of the cat we saw eating a chicken head.

If you're interested more photos of our trip can be seen here.

If you have any questions about Morocco leave a comment or send an e-mail to yarnymarn@gmail.com