Category Archives: avocado

by | December 9, 2010 · 7:45 am

Avocado, Heirloom Tomato and Walnut Salad

     I had a ripe avocado that was begging to be used before I leave for Tucson, Arizona tomorrow. I wanted something light and summery to match the beautiful weather we’ve been having here in Southern California. Enter my inspiration: Lemonade!

I first visited Lemonade during my first blogger meet-up back in August, and fell in love with their avocado, cherry tomato and pine nut salad tossed in a lime vinaigrette. I’ve been dreaming about it for months!
Avocado, Heirloom Tomato and Walnut Salad
(inspired by Lemonade)
1 ripe avocado
2/3 cup baby heirloom tomatoes, cut in half
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/2 lime
1 tsp olive oil
1 tablespoon cherry balsamic vinegar
     1. Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit.
     2. With the tip of a sharp knife, trace a checkerboard design into the flesh of the avocado and gently scoop the diced flesh into a mixing bowl.
     3. Add the heirloom tomatoes and walnuts to the avocado.
     4. In a small mixing bowl, combine the juice of the lime, olive oil and cherry balsamic vinegar and whisk until emulsified.
     5. Pour the dressing over the avocado, tomatoes and walnuts and gently toss to cover. 
Makes two servings.
If you don’t have cherry balsamic, any balsamic vinegar will do. The balsamic MADE the salad! Don’t skip that ingredient!
     This salad is buttery, tangy and refreshing, with a nice crunch from the added walnuts. I have a feeling I’ll be making this a LOT over the holidays for my brother and his wife who are both vegans, and visiting from snowy Colorado. One of the perks of living in California is having avocados year round! I have to share the wealth!
Another perk is hiking in 68 degree weather while the rest of the country is spiraling into a deep, cold winter.
I’m off to Arizona again tomorrey!

6 Comments

Filed under avocado, blogger meet-up, cherry balsamic vinegar, heirloom tomatoes, hike, Lemonade, lime vinaigrette, Southern California

by | October 9, 2010 · 9:32 am

Becki’s Car Go BANG!

     I had kind of a rough day. I had an audition for a print job, which I find completely pointless to begin with because I AM NOT A MODEL, and as an added knee-to-the-groin, I got in my first car accident.

     But first…

The day started off well – Peach Pie Monsta with 6 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1 carrot, 2 spears of asparagus, 1/2 of a peach, 1 lime, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a handful of ice.
Monstas = ENERGY!
     I decided that since I had to be in LA anyway, I might as well make the best of it, so I met up with Malachi for lunch.
Suzanne’s Country Deli – a little local place that Malachi has driven past and always wanted to try. I was up for the gamble!
Sir Malachi!
I ordered the Avocado Sammich – lettuce, avocado, tomato, cucumber slices and a light mayo on whole wheat bread. Simple, but delicious! I could only eat half before I was full.
Malachi got the signature burger and fries.
Dan got the remaining half of my sammich for when he wrapped up at work.
I spoil him 😉
     After lunch I headed out for my audition. I was feeling joyful, rocking out to some Flo Rida while driving down Vine, and as I switched lanes, someone decided that right then would be a genius idea to peel out of his parking spot and rammed straight into the rear passenger door of my car, shredding off a bunch of metal trip and leaving a groovy scratch along the side. I pulled over on one of the busiest streets in Hollywood with cars screaming by and exchanged info with the driver who “didn’t want nothin’ to do with no poh-lice” and somehow still made it to my audition on time. MAGIC!
I always said that as long as my car still functions, it won’t matter if a few bumps or scrapes happen – but that was before it actually happened to me. I got off lucky, I’ll say that!
I’ll never feel the same joy when I listen to “Club Can’t Handle Me” by Flo Rida.
     The audition went fine after that. They took a few pictures from different angles then had me do a little improv on video. The casting director told me to pretend that a friend had called me and given me great news. My improv went a little like this:
Becki answers phone: Hey Malachi, what’s up?
(She listens)
Becki: Sammiches are half off until 3 today? I am SO there!
(She listens)
Becki: No, dude I don’t do that veggie crap, I’m getting a burger. Your treat, right?
(She listens)
Becki: OKAYBYE!

     The CD laughed. Hey, half-off sammiches are GREAT news to me! If nothing else, I stuck out in their minds for originality, right? It’ll be interesting to see if I hear back considering they were looking for women in their late twenties – which, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I am not.
     The drive home was spent with quiet music and extra caution, and I wrapped up the afternoon with some fun calls to the LAPD and my insurance company. When I went to work, I decided that gelato would be of great comfort to me. Honestly though, when is it not?
Pumpkin Cheesecake!!! Autumn flavors are out at Paciugo!!!
Everything looks better in macro!

6 Comments

Filed under audition, avocado, car accident, Flo Rida, green monster, Malachi, Paciugo, peach pie monster, Suzanne's Country Deli

by | August 8, 2010 · 9:33 am

Obsessed with Lemonade!

     I had my first ever blogger meet-up today! We had ten bloggers from the LA area come together at Lemonade in West Hollywood. This restaurant is kind of a cafeteria-style place, with non-cafeteria-esque dishes (also known as delicious). Their food selection is INSANE! I looked up the menu online last night to check it out so I wouldn’t waste hours with my indecisiveness, but seeing the food up close and personal threw that out the window. Luckily, it only took me ten minutes to finally make my choice.

How the heck was I supposed to choose???
This was only half of the selection. Ready for my favorite part?
Best prices EVER. I got 1 portion (two scoops) of two different things so I could have some room for dessert and their namesake. My total cost, including drink and dessert was around $8.75.
LEMONADE! I had the hardest time deciding between these. The cashier was kind enough to give me samples of the Watermelon Rosemary and the Cucumber Mint. I went with the Watermelon Rosemary. Sweet and tangy with a warm, Christmas-y flavor from the rosemary. My mouth was confused… and thrilled. I must return to try all the flavors, and try more dishes! I may be completely obsessed…
My plate consisted of: Avocado, cherry tomatoes, and pine nut salad tossed in a lime vinaigrette, and the mission fig, arugula, and blue cheese salad tossed in a balsamic dressing. They were both delicious, but the fig and arugula salad had a little too much dressing, whereas the avocado and cherry tomato salad could have used a little more. Dessert was a mini red velvet cupcake. The frosting on this was to die for!!! The cupcake itself was a little dry and boring, but the frosting more than made up for it.
Random fact: This was the first time that Megan and I had ever tried figs! Not too shabby – light flavor, not too sweet or overpowering. The consistency will take a little getting used to in the future. Kinda slimy in my opinion.
     After everyone got their food, we all sat down and got to business photographing.
Megan from Healthy Hoggin’ and Stephanie, a reader who should start her own blog :).
Our lovely organizer Lynn from The Actor’s Diet.
From the far end forward: Ameena from Fancy That, Fancy This, Eden from Eden’s Eats, Lynn from The Actor’s Diet, Katy from Katy Eats…
Again from the far end forward: Andy and Amanda from Two Boos Who Eat, Stephanie (a reader), and Megan from Healthy Hoggin’.
     We spent about two hours stuffing ourselves and discussing blogging, food, real life outside of blogging (what’s that?), and more food. Everyone dispersed around 1pm and I headed to my car to drive to work – which I was scheduled to start at 12:45pm. Oops, my bad :).
     I had an hour and a half of training for a new product at work, and the representative brought in food from The Cheesecake Factory. There were corn dogs, deep fried artichoke hearts, deep fried mushrooms, and deep fried sweet corn that had been wrapped in dough. I was very, very thankful that I’d eaten well at the blogger meet-up, and had no temptation at all for any of this. I felt ill just looking at the layout.
    I spent the rest of the day going around to my coworkers and proclaiming about the deliciousness that is Lemonade, and then had to try to find something that sounded appealing for dinner. Nothing did after that meal, so I went and got the least unhealthy/cheapest thing I could find.
A single serving of beef with broccoli – one of their healthiest options on the menu.
Blech.
What’s the most  memorable meal you’ve had? This definitely goes in the books for one of mine – because of the food AND the company!

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Filed under arugula, avocado, blogger meet-up, cherry tomatoes, Lemonade, mission figs, red velvet cupcake, watermelon rosemary