The Food Maven Diary
[Archives]
Avocados for Super Bowl, Chinese Chicken
Gung Hay Fa Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!
It started Monday.
It's the year of the ox. Hard, steady workers those ox.
It's always nice to have an opportunity to wish everyone health, happiness and prosperity.
TOMORROW IS AVOCADO DAY
You may have heard this somewhere else by now, the day before Super Bowl, but more avocados will be consumed tomorrow than on any other day of the year - something like 92 million avocados amounting to about 46 millions pounds, which means avocados average eight ounces each. Most of them come from California, but many come from Mexico. Either way, they are the Haas variety, the ones with the pebbly skins that turn from green to purple-black when ripe. If you don't have ripe avocados by now, it may be too late to get them ripe for tomorrow, but you can try. Put them in a plastic or paper bag with an apple or ripe banana. The ethylene gas the ripe fruit gives off will hasten the ripening of the avocado. Like pears, avocados ripen only after they are picked. .
I don't need to tell you that most of these avocados will become guacamole, and much of that guacamole is used for Seven Layer Dip, which you would have to say is the national dish of Super Bowl. I wrote about this dip back in 2000. Read about it, and find a recipe, at The Food Maven).
By the way, I will not be making guacamole or seven-layer dip tomorrow. I will, however, be making the Chinese chicken dipping sauce you'll find in the same Maven's Diary entry. I'll use it for Chinese Magic Chicken, another recipe on The Food Maven .
ONLY IN BROOKLYN
I went to Mai Thai on the corner of Eighth Ave. and 47th St. in Sunset Park for dinner last week. It turned out to be BYOB. So I walked across the street to the Hallal grocery (Muslim "kosher"), bought Polish beer (there are apparently still a few Poles in the neighborhood), to take to my Italian, Jewish and WASP friends in a Thai restaurant in a mixed Chinese and Mexican neighborhood.
By the way, the restaurant was very good. For now, I recommend the beef salad.
Happy Super Bowl - or whatever!
