Guacamole

We all love guacamole. I think my favorite was the guacamole I had while watching the Utah Jazz playing, it was made exactly to my taste, and there was lots of it and I could eat as much as I wanted, and it was free :)

There's so many ways to make guacamole. I like it best when the avocado is the star. I don't like to mix it with mayonnaise or sour cream. The simpler the better.

A good guacamole is the one they serve at Chipotle. We like it! They have recently put the recipe on their website and here it is:



THIS IS ALL YOU’LL NEED:

2 ripe Hass avocados
2 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp cilantro (chopped)
1/4 cup red onion (finely chopped)
1/2 jalapeño, including seeds (finely chopped)
1/4 tsp kosher salt

HOW TO DO IT:
1. Choose the right avocado. It should feel squishy yet firm (like the palm of your hand), and be a nice dark green color on the inside.
2. Cut the avocado in half and the remove the pit (carefully!)
3. Scoop the avocados and place in a medium bowl.
4. Toss and coat with lime juice.
5. Add the salt and using a fork or potato masher, mash until a smooth consistency is achieved.
6. Fold in the remaining ingredients and mix well.
7. Taste the guacamole (over and over) and adjust seasoning if necessary.

For a complete chips-and-dip experience, serve guacamole with tortilla chips that have been tossed with lime juice and a sprinkling of salt.

Of course you can get it directly from the website, and they have some cool gifs showing how it's made, here's the site : https://chipotle.com/guac-recipe



ENJOY!!!

PS California Hass avocados are the best!

The Saga continues...

Computer Saga that is!

We couldn't get my new computer to work, after hours spent with techs in Mumbai, after setting it back to factory standards, after installing a new OS, nothing. The same error came time after time. Finally it was decided they would send a new computer and FedEx came to pick up the one that didn't work right from day 1. I was assured the next one would be tested and done to my specifications. We'll see. I should be getting it at the end of the month.

In the meantime, I am using my old computer. I sort of fixed it with all I learned from the Mumbai techs ;)

Today Marv had to have a procedure done to his face, It takes about 3-4 hours, so I decided I would go have lunch and pick him up when he was done. I went to a shopping center nearby and went to Carino's for lunch and had a great salad. Afterwords I did a little shopping, I bought 2 nice tops and and  a summer purse, also a toy for Lulu (already semi destroyed)

It's been pretty cool and rainy the last few days, so tonight I made Mexican  meatball soup. It was comfort food, pretty good.

By the way, Barcelona won the Spanish Liga, and tomorrow they are playing against  A Coruña for the King's Cup.  Then  it will be on to Berlin to play Juventus of Italy for the European Championship!!! :)

I hope the day at the Park in Stockholm is a big success. Mia has work hard to get everything just right. Now if only the weather cooperates :)

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

New computer, etc.

I got my new computer on Saturday. It's a 1TB HP Envy. I told Marv to be ready to help me install it on Sunday.

Sunday was Mother's Day, Lizzie was going to come but since she had been here last weekend and we went to the Getty, I told her she could come the week of the 17th instead.  Marv went shopping for groceries, we had a nice breakfast and got ready to install the PC. I told myself last time I bought one that I would either buy an all in one next time or I would call the Geek Squad to set it up. But we tried to do it ourselves, it was pretty easy to do, only it meant a lot of bending and crawling and plugging in things hoping they went in the right hole :)

We got it running and I was happy. I d/l Chrome and PSP. I told myself not to go crazy d/l things the first day, just get familiar with the new PC and keyboard. It was nice to be able to search the web without being frozen every other minute.

Marvin cooked BBQ baby back ribs, they were super delicious!!! I ate 2 out of the three strawberries left in the box for dessert, and it was a great meal.

I had stayed up Saturday night watching the baptism of the twin babies of Albert and Charlene of Monaco, my computer of course kept on freezing and I wish I had set up the new one on Saturday so I could have watched without interruptions, so I ended up watching most of it in my iPhone. I went to bed a little past 4AM.

Anyway after dinner Sunday and after talking to my 2 daughters and Jennifer, I went to turn on the computer to check mail and FB before bed. To my great annoyance, that's what I got: No OS found, insert OS set up disk, then 01. Only problem is the computer came with no disk!!! I turned it off and then on again, and same error. I may have cried a little I was so pissed! After a few more tries with the same results, it finally booted. Checked my mail and FB and went to bed.

This morning, I turned on the computer and I got this: ERROR No boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed. Here I started spouting some curse words directed to my PC and HP and technology in general. I tried and tried, finally I called HP support. After a while some heavily Asian accented woman started asking questions and said she would help me. She told me to turn the computer on and off, which I did, I explained what the problem was and she kept saying she'd help. Now after it turned on it started doing some updates, 1 of 103, she said to wait, it was going very slow. After giving her the model number and other data it was still 10 of 103, she said we just had to wait. OK, a couple minutes later it was 33 of 103, I told that to the tech and no answer, WE HAD BEEN DISCONNECTED! At that point I decided to get me a drink. Then I played with Lulu, had lunch etc.

After a couple of hours I tried again and it started right away. I haven't turned it off since. It is now 2:00AM and I am sleepy. Marv has had a couple of bad days bleeding, I had to change him about 4 times yesterday and today 3 times in the last 3 hours. I hope it has stopped at least till the morning.

Tomorrow is the semi final game Barcelona-Bayern of the Champions Cup, it starts at 10:45AM so I
 will be watching :) GO BARCA!!!

Rain, shoes and strawberries

It  finally rained! And rained, and it got  chilly in the low 60's, had to turn on the heater! Brrrrrrrrr

Yesterday I had an early Mother's Day present from Sandy, she said is one of the few times she has not been late with a present lol. When we came back from dialysis, there was a package by the door from Shari's Strawberries. I opened it right away and it was a box with 12 gorgeous chocolate dipped strawberries. We each had one right away. Yum!  Thanks Sandy!

I'll go back a couple of days to 5 de mayo. I was going to go to Huntington Beach to meet Norbert and have some Mexican lunch, but the weather was cloudy and I didn't feel like listening to his ongoing tale of woe, so  Marvin and I decided to go to El Cholo to have a Margarita and some food on Friday, which we did. As I said it was cool and rainy,and they had a nice fire going by the fireplace and it was cozy and enjoyable. When we got home I had a loooooooooooooooooong nap :)

We both had soup, chile verde, and chimichangas and a flan.

On Thursday I decided I wanted another pair of shoes from Sketchers. I spent a long time trying shoes and finally settled in a GoWalk 3 pair in gray, and a Memory Form Fit in ecru. They fit great.  After that I went to get me some egg rolls from Pho Saigon, I think they are the best egg rolls around. The  restaurant is in the Marshall's Shopping Center, so I went in to check what's new. I bought me a cute little bag that is insulated and I can use as a purse as well.  Then I went to look at the shoes, and I bought my very first pair of Crocs! They are actually cute, hot pink and very comfortable. I will use them for gardening since they are waterproof. And super cheap.

only mine are hot pink/white

It's been a good week. And Lulu is enjoying her freedom from her kennel and behaving like a grown up :)

A night of poetry at the Getty

Lizzie came over last weekend to visit and also to go to a poetry reading at the Getty. She invited me to go and after a little hesitation, I said yes.  Why the hesitation you ask? I have this (stupid) habit of almost never saying yes when asked to do something or go somewhere.

Before we went I told her to fill up the car, she was not amused.It's another of my quirks, I am always afraid to run out of gas. Marv can be a witness to that, I get nervous when it gets to the half mark.

We were ready to go by 5:00, the reading was to start by 7:00, travel time would take 48 minutes so we had enough time to enjoy the drive to the Getty Villa in Malibu, and see the gardens.

It was a nice drive,especially when we got to Malibu, the waves were pretty awesome, the weather was very nice, very enjoyable.We turned to the GettyVilla, Lizzie had never been there,but  I had been there 3times, with Migrant Ed, with Marv, and once with Norbert. It's a beautiful place.
When we got to the gate, there was a sign saying "CLOSED" !!!!

We stopped and checked the invitations, and it said Getty Center! For some reason, both of us assumed it was the Getty Villa, not the Center.  So we changed courses and following the directions of  her iphone we had a lovely drive through Brentwood, Beverly Hills etc. admiring the mansions along the way and the beautiful area, until we got back to the freeway and got to the Getty Center.

The Getty Center is a Museum in a beautiful setting with views of Los Angeles, the mountains and the ocean. It also has very lovely gardens. That's one of the places my daughters took me for my 70th birthday.

When we got there, the readings had not started yet. There were a lot of people, it was a sold out performance. There were 6 poets, a magician that doubled as an MC and a guitar player that accompanied the reading of the poems. The poems were inspired by the paintings of J. M. W Turner.

The Auditorium was very nice with super comfortable chairs/ Lizzie bought a couple of poetry books. She knew most of the poets plus  some members of the audience.  I enjoyed the poets and the poems and the music, and the silly magician. One of the poets is also a movie/TV star, her name is 

Amber Tamblyn, she was in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and other movies,also in 3 and a half man and  several TV shows. Her husband David Cross is also an actor.  Her father is actor/dancer Russ Tamblyn who was a favorite of mine when I was a teenager. Here's a father daughter picture.

After the show was over, we hung around and it was nice to see how many people came and talk to Lizzie, she is well known in poetry circles, and in my opinion a much better poet than the ones that took part in the reading.  It was  very nice for me to see her being recognized and liked by her peers :)

Then we drove back home, and stopped at Alberto's for a late dinner/snack.

It was a very nice evening and I enjoyed it very much . Thanks Lizzie.