My First Date With an Avocado

The avocado is a new food for me.  At first I didn't care much for it, but once I learned how healthy it is I decided to get to know the avocado!  We were strangers, I knew nothing about it...thank goodness for suzyhomemaker!  She taught me how to pick the best avocado and she introduced me to the most common avocado recipe - guacamole.

I can now say I have successfully made guacamole!  There were a few bumps along the road...but I made it and love it!  Since this was my first "date" with an avocado I had no idea how to cut it open or get the pit out.
With some assistance I learned and thought I'd share for other avocado virgins!

1. Cut the avocado lengthwise.

2. Then use a spoon to separate the meat from the skin of the side without the pit.

3. Remove the pit...this was tricky - then hilarious! Here is what I was told from suzyhomemaker: Now to take out the pit, hold the avocado half in your non dominant hand. Take a knife, have the blade be facing the pit,not the point but the blade long wise should somewhat line up with the pit. Now carefully (cause if you get cut I will feel guilty) swiftly take the knife and hit it into the pit it should get stuck in there.  

I did as she instructed but the knife didn't get stuck so I hit it harder.  This caused the pit to pop right out and fly across the room, landing on the floor!  (that was the hilarious part!)

4. The last step was to cut the meat in chunks and mash with a fork.  It was much slimier than I thought it would be.  I started to think, "I don't think we're a good match Mr. Avocado."

 However, after adding the lemon juice, salt and garlic I decided to embrace the avocado!  The garlic makes it amazing!

I encourage everyone to have a date with the avocado...you might find you're a good match!

Space for Stuff

My friend, Suzyhomemaker recently posted about being anti-pantry.  While I understand her reasoning, I am a fan of the "pantry" or any type of storage space behind a closed door!  I recently completed a closet reorganization trying to make the most out of what hidden space I have.

We have a good amount of cabinets in our kitchen but we do not have a good amount of closets or storage spaces! There are certain things that just can't go into a kitchen cabinet...a vacuum, animal treats, recycling bins, mop bucket etc.  I was convinced that I could transform our cramped closet into a well organized storage space.
So I went to IKEA!  Now for me a trip to IKEA is an all day event...but a fun day out!

I can not share a before picture of the full closet, it is that embarrassing.  Just picture opening a door with one hand and bracing yourself for whatever might come tumbling out!
 


Here is one picture of a pile of stuff that came out of the closet, this is only about a third of everything that was in there!

My main goal was to create more shelves plus enough room to fit two vacuums.  As you can see by the shelves on the door, this closet was a mess!

I purchased a simple shelf that was high but not too deep allowing space for the vacuums!


The dog thought she might be interested in helping to put the shelf together, but decided the IKEA instructions were too complicated for her!


Here is the finished closet!  I was so excited and felt almost liberated!  I love opening the closet door now!

This is a close up of the blue "buckets".  They are from IKEA as well.  They stack and hold much more than I thought they would.

I am amazed with how much stuff I can store in my little storage closet now!