Avocado Smoothie, Vietnamese style
1 avocado
a few ice cubes
1/2 c milk
1 large T sweetened, condensed milk
-BLEND.
Tea comes in the morning, in the afternoon, and after every meal. Men (and only men) play backgammon (nard) and dominos in tea houses each afternoon. Tea often comes with the sweetest jam to eat alongside, but I like to stir it in my tea.
As of this summer, kombucha became much harder to find. FDA rules and regulations regarding kombucha are being reevaluated due to its trace amounts of alcohol. So kombucha lovers are doing what has always been easy enough anyway-making it themselves. All it requries is a kombucha starter or “baby” and some tea to ferment. Tori (above) lives at Wondermoth, which also served as my home in Buffalo for August. Its fabulous residents host a weekly community potluck, share food, cooking tips, cleaning duties, homemade beer and ginger brews and kombucha! Here, Tori wrestles with her vibrant kombucha to deliver babies to those in need, now that kombucha’s future lies in the balance.
After a huge Vietnamese meal and ice cream there was only one possible choice left. Beer. At Wynkoop Brewery downtown. I had the milk stout which was very smooth, but not my favorite (which is Mother’s Milk from Kingston, NY). Heidi loves the IPA.
Yes we ate lots, but we did take a quick break to read children’s books at The Tattered Cover.
I’ll admit it freely, I love Paonia, CO. Athought I would love it w/o Revolution Brewery, its simple existence sealed the deal. Revolution Brewery certainly wins for best place in Paonia, if not ever. We were hooked the first time we went and have been back nearly every single Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening because those are the only days they are open (because they brew small batches that quickly run out). Also, it’s a “tasting room,” not a bar, which means last call is at 7:55pm, people play chess in the back yard, they allow kids, and it feels just like stooping it up at your neighbor’s house. Also, it is housed in an old church, and when Thursday rolls around everyone says, “see you at the beer church.” We’ve tried ‘em all and learned this past week that we need a growler to get us through Sunday-Thursday.
When I got my first apartment, I decided my splurge item was going to be a blender.
I thought if I spent $80 on a blender it would pulverize ice cubes into ice dust. Actually, I think it worked about as well as a $25 blender and simply turned ice cubes into smaller ice cubes.
A couple of weeks ago I was perusing some food blogs and found a post on making banana ice cream in something called a Vita-Mix using only frozen bananas. Apparently, a Vita-Mix is all the rage with vegans and health nuts as you can make your own flour out of grains, your own nut butter out of nuts, and your own ice cream out of frozen fruit! I saw the price tag, and realized I would never get to try out this blender.
Now, let me just say, I’m not trying to endorse a $500/blender. However, the house we’re staying in has a Vita-Mix!!! Alejandro was the first to get excited (though any blender would’ve excited him) because he’s a protein smoothie in the morning kind of guy. I refuse to get overly excited before I try this baby out. In the next two weeks I will attempt to give the Vita-Mix a run for its money.
1. Smoothies: This was an easy one. I dropped in one mango, one peach, and some ice. It came out a little thick so I added some coconut water which did the trick. The smoothie was perfect. No ice chunks! So far so good.
