It’s a new husband’s favorite!

Seriously, my husband said it’s the best avocado smoothie he has ever had. And he’s had his fair share. I’m sure you’ve seen avocoladas around the blogosphere, they’re pretty popular. My first encounter with an avocado in a smoothie was in bubble tea on University Way in Seattle. At first I was leery. Avocados are for guacamole and sandwiches. Not smoothies. So I thought.

After I tried my first one, I was hooked. Avocados are not very strongly flavored, so they are versatile on the savory or sweet side. And it makes such rich, creamy smoothies. Add too much ice and you have to eat it with a spoon. But I like to eat all of my smoothies with a spoon, unlike Caleb who camels it down. Yes, camels is a verb.

To Camel: To consume a beverage quickly and with gusto. Occurs often after intense exercise.

So this is my super hurried recipe for a version of an avocolada that I made up yesterday. It’s based on what I imagined it should be like. It would be better with coconut milk instead of regular milk and coconut extract, but it’s all I had.

And am I the only one who has tried to grow an avocado tree? I always start one, but then end up throwing it out after a couple of weeks. I don’t have the patience, nor the climate, for such a feat. But doesn’t it look like fun?

The USPS is not my friend. First they always have the longest lines. Next they take away my tape. Soon they’ll up the cost of stamps again. Then they’re only open 7 hours a day. It just gets better and better. Yet they win because they are a billion dollars cheaper than sending mail via UPS or FedEx. Yes, one billion dollars.

Yesterday I had two packages to ship. Two normal packages. Each not more than a pound or two. The post office right next to my work is open from 10am to 6pm. It’s downtown. It should be open before 10. But I’ll take the “open till 6″, that will work.

I leave work a few minutes after 5. March down to the post office and walk in. Inside is a lone woman at the counter waiting, nobody is behind the counter. So I stood there and waited a few minutes, then a woman came out from the back and told me that they were closed. “But the schedule says you’re open til 6″ I say. “No, no we’re closed now.”

Uh-huh. I see.

The other waiting woman and I left, she was a  little huffier than me, I think she had been waiting awhile.

She could have at least locked the door at 5pm if that’s when she wants to close. Maybe leave a note on the door. But government services are special and don’t have to worry about things like customer service.

Since the packages had to be mailed out that day, I left and found a FedEx and got robbed blind for shipping. Ridiculous.

Yet I’ll still go back to USPS and deal with their rudeness for the sake of saving money. Ah well. Such is life.

I’m really looking forward to my lunch today that it’s a little ridiculous. If I wasn’t so full of the best flavor of gelato ever (more on that later) I might take a bite.

My main entree includes three ingredients: collard greens (from Tahoma Farms), red pepper hummus (WF), and bell pepper slices (leftover from a BBQ). It’s a wrap! Excuse the weird shade of the red pepper, I took all of these photos under awful light at 10pm.

And yes I’m that excited about a wrap. Who isn’t. And no question mark there, because it’s not a question.

Mmm, wrap.

This is the hummus I used, it’s from Whole Foods and ridiculously delicious. It comes with a later of roasted red pepper on top that you stir in like fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. Or you’re like me and dig to the bottom of the yogurt (or in this case, skim the peppers off of the top) and eat the fruity goodness. Leaving just enough fruit to flavor the rest of the yogurt.

Lunch also includes low-moisture string cheese and and a tupperware full of blueberries, mango, and fresh raspberries from my mom’s yard. I’m pretty sure that those raspberries and her homemade applesauce are two of my most favorite things in the world. Nobody does it better. Even farmer’s markets don’t get the raspberries right. Believe me, I’ve tried.

Aren’t they glorious? I’ve eaten them probably every year of my life in jam, syrup, frozen, and fresh form. I really can’t wait to have my own raspberry plants.

Drool.

On a side note, the wild blackberries in my alley have a few ripe berries! There are millions upon millions of blackberry bushes around my place and across the main road. And since it’s all city folk up here, I’m doubting that they’ll even touch them. Surprising since fresh blackberries are so expensive.

Anyway, I ended the night with a few spoonfuls of my new found love–Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato. Translated: Nutella Gelato.

My favorite flavor ever. It tastes exactly like what Nutella gelato should taste like. All your hopes and dreams have come alive.

Here are the nutrional facts if you’re curious, only seven ingredients (grouping the stabilizers together).

I bought it at Fred Meyer’s for $2.50 on sale. I would also love to try the Talenti gelatos but they cost more than I’m willing to shell out when I can have Nutella gelato for half the price. Yes the nice man at the store who grabbed a tub of Talenti strongly suggested that I should buy some as well, but I love finding new delicious things that don’t cost twice as much as I want to pay. Especially when there is Nutella gelato. I can’t get over that. Nutella. Gelato. Genius.

P.S. I could explain the title. But there’s no point if you don’t already recognize it. The rest of you get to stay in the dark. :)

I love these measuring cups. Really, really.

And these Babushka cups. I would so want these if I were a little girl:

They remind me of my little nesting dolls that I’m sure are still somewhere at my parent’s house. One of my good friends when I was in kindergarten was a girl that had recently moved from Russia. Actually it wasn’t Russia, but it was somewhere Russian-controlled at the time. I think. My memory fails me. Ukraine? Anyway, I like nesting dolls.

My patty pan squash plant is rebelling. I knew it would, it grew up so fast and started producing before it was ready. Poor squash.

I have two patty pan squash plants on my balcony. One is smaller but sort of producing. I say sort of because it does have squash on it, but none of them are turning from green to yellow and they come off looking like this inside.

Fail.

They’re not even shaped like pretty patty pans should be. I thought I might be over watering, so I stopped for a few days. Didn’t seem to have an effect. On the underside of the leaves appear to be teeny tiny little black bugs, though they don’t seem to be eating holes in the leaves. I sprayed them with some organic bug spray, but nada happened. Nada. Hmmmm.

The other squash plant that isn’t as sickly as the rebellious one has a little patty pan growing on it finally, and it actually looks patty pan shaped! Here’s hoping that it keeps growing. I’ll baby that thing to death. These squash plants have to earn their keep, they’re taking up a good portion of my precious balcony space.

In other garden news, my lettuce was attacked by this:

I call him Spot.

He’s about an 1/8th of an inch long and reproduces more than bunnies. He is now deceased, but his children keep living on. They have all but killed my lettuce, though it’s sadly well on its way. If anyone has any tips to get rid of Spot’s offspring, be my guest.

I have already tried soapy water, Safer organic bug spray, and manually removing them. No luck. They live on.

Back to the trenches!

P.S. 2 of 3 tomatoes plants have little green tomatoes on them. Hurray!