First, the guacamole!

In Cristina Ferrare’s “Big Bowl of Love,” she describes being on vacation in Acapulco and having “ice-cold slushy margaritas and the best guacamole (she) had ever had.” Guacamole so good that the cook refused to give up the recipe, so Ferrare had to work it out for herself.

What was the big secret?

You need cold ripe avocados, finely chopped cilantro and onion, and – the key ingredient – more lime juice than any sane person would feel comfortable with. Enough lime juice to make the mixture seem a little soupy at first. But it’s like adding milk or cream to mashed potatoes. The mashed avocado soaks in all of that lime juice, giving you a cold, creamy, chunky guacamole that’s exploding with flavor.

Sit down with a bowl of this guacamole and some warm tortilla chips, and you will totally understand why Ferrare didn’t want to leave this recipe in Acapulco.

Now, the site redesign!

Jeff spent many, many nights coming home from work, having dinner, and immediately going back to work to redesign this site for me, so we are celebrating that it’s finally live! And we’re still married!

I’m just about to remove the ankle shackle from his office chair.

The new design has a few bells and whistles that we hope you like:

1. Choose your format for scrolling through the posts: summary or photo-only. Under the slideshow at the top, you’ll see “Latest Entries.” To the right of that, there are two icons. Click the three horizontal bars to see the posts listed with short summaries. Or, click the nine-square grid to see the posts displayed as a photo-only index.
2. Cleaner recipes that are even easier to print. We’ve changed the formatting of the recipes to make them easier to read, and if you go to the bottom of the post, you’ll see a new “Print Page/Create PDF” function. When you press that button, it will show the entire post, but you have control over what gets printed. Highlight any section (the blog post, the photos, whatever), and it will give you the option to “click to delete” that portion so that you can customize the PDF and print only what you want.
3. A friendlier commenting system. We’re still experimenting with this one, but we wanted to give Facebook comments a try. When you comment, the system will ask for a verifiable e-mail address so that we can eliminate the extra step of comment moderation. It should speed things up and let us talk more naturally, like posting to a friend’s Facebook page.

You know how a new car can make you feel excited about driving again? That’s how I feel about this design. It’s makes me want to cook more, write more and have more fun with you guys.

Now to take off Jeff’s shackles…

P.S. We’re still tweaking the site, so if you notice anything funky, please let us know at [email protected].

Guacamole

Reprinted with permission from “Cristina Ferrare’s Big Bowl of Love”

• 4 cold ripe avocados
• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 jalapeños, 1 finely chopped, and 1 sliced thin, for garnish (optional)
• Tortilla chips

1. Split the avocados along the sides, and divide in half. Remove the pit, and use a spoon to scoop the flesh into a bowl. (If you’ve never removed an avocado pit, gently tap your knife blade into the pit and twist it out.) Save one of the pits, and discard the rest.
2. Mash with a potato masher until smooth.
3. Add the onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and chopped jalapeño, and continue to mash until the guacamole looks whipped and fluffy.
4. Taste, and add more salt if necessary.
5. Place your reserved avocado pit in the middle of the guacamole to keep it from turning dark.
6. Garnish with sliced jalapeño, and serve immediately with warm tortilla chips.
7. To warm the tortilla chips: Place the chips on a baking sheet in the oven at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.

STORAGE: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 24 hours.

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