I don't have anything really nice, except two of my knives. Mostly I have "second cheapest stuff"---so I'm not paying for a name, but it's better quality than the stuff they make for people who "don't care and just want a pan."

I just checked to make sure my pans had thick enough bottoms and called it good less

Every Haas avocado is clone of a single tree found in California many decades ago. It is actually illegal (because the original discoverers patented the variety) to grow a Haas avocado (the type of avocado the vast majority of people will ever see in a store) for resale. less

To impress your guests, you want things to look pretty. So to set up my plates, I start by layering the spinach:



and then putting down the noodles, followed by the avocados (one plate in each stage here).



After the avocados, I sprinkle a bit of salt on each plate. This won't need much salt, because the cheese has a salty flavor, but avocados need salt in my opinion

Finally, I top them with the alfredo and garnish with a few extra sun dried tomatoes.



And that'll please even the pickiest of relatives!


West Indian type avocados produce enormous, smooth round, glossy green fruits that are low in oil and weigh up to 2 pounds. Guatemalan types produce medium, pear-shaped, pebbled green fruits that turn blackish-green when ripe. The fruit of Mexican varieties are small (6 - 10 ounces) with paper-thin skins that turn glossy green or black when ripe.
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When I was eating this for my birthday dinner, I was reminded of Owl Identified's awesome review of the Little Hottie, where she says

When I was in grade school I had a French teacher - we'll call her Mrs. X for the same of anonymity. She became a United States citizen, married a United States born man, and while she loved her native France, she was dedicated to her new national homestead. There was one thing that Mrs. X never really adjusted to, however, and it was my country's food. This was a constant subject of woe for her. "I can drink a extra large sodas, eat extra large cheeseburgers and chase them all with king size candy bars. I'll feel uncomfortably full, bloated, but never satisfied."

According to Mrs. X the French way was to eat small portions of rich, decadent food. You did not eat until full, but you always pushed your plate away satisfied. To me - a New Yorker raised on bagels piled high with half pounds of salmon cream cheese - this was absurd. As I get older the idea makes more and more sense, and I am beginning to see its application to other sensual pursuits. Including sex. Happy Valley's Little Hottie is a perfect example of a toy that has won me over by appealing to this sensibility.

This alfredo is rich. But it's delicious. Perfect for a birthday or a holiday.

Do you have any favorite foods like that?



New avocado trees are started by cloning and grafting.

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All right, guys---we're ready for Eden's incredibly generous prizes!

I have two $25 gift cards to give away, and they'll both be for answering trivia questions correctly. (My camera's still broken , so unless you want to play "guess the unknown kitchen implement that Antipova is describing," I figured trivia would be the better bet. I'll give you a little advance warning, and then I'll ask the questions.



One last bit of trivia: Commercial standards require fruit to be 8% oil content or higher before harvest.
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All right, guys---we're ready for Eden's incredibly generous prizes!

I have two $25 gift cards to give away, and they'll both be for answering trivia questions correctly. (My camera's still broken , so unless you want to play "guess the unknown kitchen implement that Antipova is describing," I figured trivia would be the better bet. I'll give you a little advance warning, and then I'll ask the questions.



One last bit of trivia: Commercial standards require fruit to be 8% oil content or higher before harvest.
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