As soon as I found out my sister was expecting a baby in February, we decided to spend a week of vacation in Cleveland to meet my nephew. We chose Memorial Day to take advantage of the three day weekend,and figured it would hopefully be warm in Cleveland by then! My sister was an incredibly gracious hostess and tried to pack in as much fun and relaxation as possible. We had an amazing week, and I almost forgot at times that we had one week to pack our house and move when we got back to Jacksonville! And let me just say I do not recommend going on vacation a week before you have to move... stressed was an understatement!
One of the highlights of our vacation was our parents night out. A few months prior, JJ and I saw an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives where Guy went to Momocho, a restaurant specializing in guacamole and other upscale Mexican dishes. We had an amazing meal at Momocho, my favorites being the specialty Margarita sampler (especially blood orange) and the amazing guacamole combinations. We actually played rocks, paper, scissors to see who got to lick out the bowls!
The four main guacamoles we tried were blue cheese, goat cheese, pineapple and crab (each with a few other supporting ingredients!) My absolute favorite was the blue cheese, with the pineapple as a close second. I knew I had to recreate this guacamole since we're now a far, far drive from Cleveland!
While it may seem strange, the blue cheese adds a huge punch of flavor, the avocado is a subtle base flavor, and the garlic and green chiles keep it bright and each bite is different, some with a large chunk of blue cheese, some with a piece of garlic.
After dinner, we headed to Progressive Field to watch the Indians game. Coincidentally, they were playing the Reds. Too many Summer Shandys were shared by my sister and me, I don't even remember who won the game! But we had so much fun.
The rest of the week was much more family friendly, we had a great time with the kids at the Memphis Kiddie Park and the Children's Museum of Cleveland. While people joke about Cleveland, it really is a great city and we had so much fun there. And Baby Eli is truly the best baby ever, it was such a joy to get to finally meet him in person!
Blue Cheese, Garlic and Green Child Guacamole
adapted from Momocho
2 ripe avocados
1/2 lime, juiced
Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3 oz. chunk of blue cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp. diced green chilies (canned)
1 head of roasted garlic (or roasted garlic cloves in olive oil from salad bar)
Halve avocados, remove pit and spoon flesh into a mixing bowl.
Add lime juice, a sprinkle of salt and cumin, mash avocado with a fork.
Crumble blue cheese into avocado mixture, add green chilies and garlic, gently mix with a fork until just incorporated.
Taste and add more salt and lime juice, if desired.
Serve immediately with a lime wedge and tortilla chips.
2 comments:
Of course, the second I swear I won't torture myself anymore by eating avocados you have to go and post this! I guess I need to push back my avocado avowal another week to try this!
We had such a great visit, and I'm glad you liked Cleveland. It's a great place to raise a family. Nothing frilly, but very family friendly and affordable. It was such a whirlwind of a week that I forgot some of what we did too...or maybe it was just the summer shandy ;)
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