Monday, April 28, 2008
My dad (and family) and his brother (my uncle is a bachelor) live beside each other; in different houses separated by a fence. This kind of living arrangement is very ordinary here in Asia. Each family lives in their own houses but relatives live beside or near each other. This way, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, all grow up close together, know each other and support each other.
Not everything is rosy under such arrangements, though. Sometimes, frictions arise as well. Like in the case of my mother's avocado tree.
An avocado tree stands tall in my mom's garden. Oh, we children love this big tree. Here in this country, there are two familiar varieties - the green one and the purple one. The purple one is the sweeter of the two. It is just too good that our tree is of the purple varitey! It is around 3-storey high now. Every summer, it produces lots and lots of avocado fruits that we children love to eat. Even after I got married and started my own family, mom would send me lots of avocados from this tree every summer.
Unfortunately, the avocado tree grew taller by the fence in between my dad's house and my uncles' house. It's thick branches and leaves spread over a big canopy over my uncle's balcony. Just several months ago, my uncle hired some men to chop off the branches and the leaves, at least on his side, I think. But it was the time when the tree was just starting to blossom. My mom heard the electric saw first. She rushed out of our house just as she saw the men chopping off several of the avocado tree's branches. She shouted and literally shooed the men away. Oooh! When my mom is angry, even my uncle cannot do anything about it. The chopping incident was averted. Thanks to my mom who saved the tree in the nick of time, we have ripe delicious and healthy avocados to enjoy the whole summer!!!
Here is a simple dessert recipe using ripe avocados. This is so easy to make, even my children can do it by themselves.
1 ripe avocado fruit
2 T sweetened condensed milk
1/4 C crushed graham crackers
2 T fresh milk, or whipped cream (whatever you prefer)
1. Wash avocado well. Halve the fruit lengthwise. Remove the seed. Using a spoon, scrape off the meat into a clean bowl.
2. Using the same spoon, mash the avocado meat. Add the condensed milk and mix well.
3. Spread some graham crackers at the bottom of dessert cups. Spoon avocado mixture on top of the graham crackers. Chill. Top with whipped cream or fresh milk before serving. And sprinkle with leftover graham crusts or crushed cereal if preferred.
I would usually add fresh milk, as I think it is the healthier option. Adding the whipped cream though, would make this dessert more creamy, and yes, a richer dessert. If you are using tall dessert cups, you can make layers of graham-avocado-graham-avocado, just top off with whipped cream. That would be super delish! I think the texture would even be better! If you do not have sweetened condensed milk, you can use sugar, or any sweetener you prefer and add as much as you please. Then, you have to add more milk or cream. Alternately, you can just put all the ingredients in a blender, add more fresh milk, blend everything for a minute or two, and you already have an avocado smoothie. Please click here to learn more aboout avocados. Coffee and Vanilla did a thorough post about this wonderful fruit.
This is my first entry to the Grow Your Own food event, hosted by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes. I do not have a big garden like my mom. But I try to plant tomatoes, lemongrass, basil, and other herbs in garden pots, which I placed at the balcony of my house. Living in a Metropolitan city does not excuse us from having our own little plot of soil to grow our food in.