Movie Tueday: Gauc and 'shock

I watched Bottleshock again on the weekend, because I was sick Friday night and spentmost of the long weekend recovering. Admittedly, I don't know how the rest of the world does it, but I recover by watching movies, mostly on NEtflix.
Bottleshock was in my queue/list/whatever they're calling this week because I watched it when it first came out, before the Star Trek reboot that also stars Chris Pine. Although apparently its reception wasn't as warm as my opinion of it, I enjoy this movie. This is partly because it hits upon another fandom I like, since it stars Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in the Happy Potter movies. (If you can find an actor in this movie who also was in Star Wars, I'll send you a bowl of guac.)
In the movie, it is the 70s, and non-Old World wines are having a tough breaking new ground (seewhatIdidthere?). The snotty British wine connoisseur who owns a wine shop in France is sampling Californian wines to take back home for a blind wine tasting. Along with a delicious New World red, one of the winemakers brings him a bowl of guacamole--one of those giant mortar-and-pestle type guacs brought out in a mortar the size of your head and twice and heavy. The snob puts down his wine, bemusedly grabs a tortilla chip, dips it in the guac and eats it, his face soon changing to grudgingly admit its flavour--just as he is eventually won over by the New World wines he tries only in the name of fairness and fully expecting to be disappointed. Another scene showed the snob sitting at a mediocre bar in California, with a good half-dozen or more open wine bottles on the table in front of him, and as he remarks that the wines are all good, you can see his carefully constructed opinions shattering around him.
these scenes particularly stuck in my memory, inspiring me to write this post, because it reminded me of many things.It reminded me to always try new things, and by golly I do my best It reminded me that some of the best foods are the simplest, and that I need to throw away my preconceived notions. It reminded that even when I think my food choices alienate me, I can find foods--guacamole, dim sum, chickpea curry--that even my most determined omnivore friends and family will devour. And most importantly, it reminded me to buy some avocados and make some goddamn guacamole.

Giant bowl of guac

Guacamole. It's one of those things that makes me happy to live in the time that I do. Yeah, ther modern age gave me my beloved smart phone (which found that vegan pizza photo eventually), lolcats, and birth control--but without the availabilty and diversity of the foods I now know and love, I would be a less smiley person. Especially as a vegan--I've said it before and I'll say it again, but ethnic foods are a vegan lifesaver when you're eating out, since are often accidentally vegan. Inari sushi anyone? Chana masala? Stir fry? Cheeselss basil and tomato pizza? Hummus or falafel? Bean burrito..with guacamole?
I've brought guac to office pot lucks a couple times. It's been wildly popular. It might be because I buy a bag of 5 avocados and make a giant batch, and everyone loves a bowl of guac the size of your head, but...I also like to think I make a decent guac too.
It's easy. You can vary this recipe if you want (variations are listed), but it's basics, and makes everyone happy. And if you've never made guacamole before, this'll help you awaken to how easy and satisfying it is!
The only critical ingredients is ripe avocados. They're ripe when the skin is dark green and they yield a little to the pressure of your finger. If they yield a lot they're over-ripe, and will be brown inside. There's nothing wrong with the brown bits, they just taste bad, and look bad. If you're planning on making guac for an upcoming event, plan ahead. If your grocery store usually stocks unripe avocados, go to the store 5 days or so in advance, and buy unripened avocados and leave them on the counter until you need them. If you're making the gauc in advance, put it in a bowl, smooth the top, squeeze half a lime over it and cover it with plastic wrap so that no guac is exposed to the air. In a pinch, this way you can keep the guac over night with minimal browning.
Otherwise, the rest is easy!

Recipe makes a bowl of guac the size of your head.

5 avocados, halved, seeded, skins removed and mashed
half a red onion, chopped very fine
bunch of cilantro (coarse stems removed), and chopped
one lime, at room temperature, juiced (they yield more juice a room temperature)
optional: 1 or 2 fresh tomatoes, seeded or unseeded, chopped; 1/2  cup salsa; fresh (seeded or unseeded) or jarred chopped jalapenos to taste; chipotles and adobo sauce to taste; 1 or more cloves of garlic, chopped fine; hot sauce to taste more onion
Combine all ingredients, and whichever optional items as you wish. Clearly, tomatoes and salsa kinda cancel each other out, as do jalapenos and chipotles, so use your judgement. Serve with tortilla chips, home-toasted tortilla shells, crackers--whatever your heart desires! And if you have margaritas with it, then so much the better. 

Delicous, delicious bookclub

Rice crackers.

I had my bookclub today. It was great! Everything was delicious! And the book was pretty good too.
In my bookclub, we have me, the vegan, someonewith celiac, a pescetarian, and 2 very supportive omnivores without any food allergies. So bookclub is often vegan/gluten-free bookclub. For some reason I found today especially delicious--maybe because I could eat almost everything we had today; or maybe because we started this cold day off with a hot comforting bowl of chilli; maybe because our designated non-cook made absolutely delicious vegan and gluten-free cupcakes. Maybe it was because I had two cupcakes--who knows?
I took a ton of pictures. Yay vegan/gluten-free food porn!

Guacamole. It's always delicious.

Super-garlic pickles that the hostess got at the farmers' market.

Fan-freakin'-tasic cupcakes.

Vegan and gluten-free English muffins, for bruschetta.

Bruschetta. Nom.

Hot, comforting chilli.

Cashew-cheese stuffed figs, drizzled with maple syrup.