Guacamole!

My husband is a very laid-back kind of guy. He doesn't really get fussed about things and is constantly trying to chill me out. It has rubbed off on me a little over the last (calculating....) 12? years. He seems to understand what things are really important and what things are not a big deal.

But there are moments when he gets absolutely RIDICULOUSLY crazy. Saturday was one of those moments...

Wes loves mexican food, namely guacamole. This is a relatively new concept for him because he used to be a VERY picky eater. He has since branched out and tried foods he used to think were gross. That's how guacamole made it on the list.

Wes gets to go to lunch every day with guys from work. They have their 'rotation' if you will of favorites. H3 Ranch in the Stockyards happens to be one of them. If you can figure out by context clues, this restaurant serves guacamole. From the very first time Wes had their guacamole, I have been hearing about it. He claims it is the best guacamole he has ever eaten, EVER. *Disclaimer* My husband is in no way a "foodie." Please take this recommendation at your own risk. I am not liable for you ordering the table-side guacamole and feeling it is not the 'best you have ever eaten, ever.' Yes, I have eaten it, and yes it is good. I don't remember it being the best I have ever eaten ever, but I've had a lot of sleepless nights since then.

Anyway, he has been raving and raving about this guacamole (for 2 years now). He eventually started asking if we could try to make some guacamole. Well, my rather involved mash-up-avocados-and-add-salsa recipe did not cut it. So Wes decided to find out the ingredients. Every time he went he would ask exactly what was in it and completely forget by the time he got home. (reminds me the old Texas Lottery commercial where the group of people is ordering at a restaurant and keeps changing their orders and the waitress doesn't write it down. One man says "don't you want to write any of this down?" to which she replies "Oh I'll remember" What are the odds?) So after about 3 months of failed attempts he finally got smart and TOOK A PICTURE of the plate of ingredients. Way to go Wes!

That was about a year ago.

So we finally got around to making this guacamole Saturday night. We had all the ingredients and the hallowed picture Wes took. What followed can only be described as complete ridiculousness...

 

Our trusty picture

We began prepping our ingredients and, at Wes' insistence, got a plate to put them on so it would look like the picture. 

So we got a plate.

We started piling our ingredients on the plate, which was not going to work, because again, Wes insisted that they be put in the EXACT place on our plate that they were on the picture plate.

Really?

So Wes put the ingredients on our plate EXACTLY where they were in the picture.  

Then there was about a 30 minute debate about the size of the piles of ingredients.
-This looks like too much
-No I think that one is OK
-We need more onions!
-But that DOESN'T look EXACTLY like the plate!

All the while I am trying to tell him that we can always add more, but we cannot take it out once it's in there. This argument was no good, as his engineering attention to detail would yield the exact results if he got the piles just right.

*Sigh*

Then my dad decided to chime in (who I think wanted to aggravate Wes) and claimed the plate in the picture is bigger than the plate we have.

This threw Wes all out of sorts and he began scrutinizing the picture and comparing his thumb to the thumb in the picture to check size. I kid you not. Then he had to adjust the piles accordingly which took another 10 minutes. For such a laid-back guy, he was really stressing about this guacamole.

Finally, he decided we had the right amount of ingredients and mixed it all up.

 Ta-Da! Our beautiful guacamole creation (that took about 40 minutes.)

 The moment of truth!

The outcome was positive, with Wes stating that it was really good. Not quite 'best he ever had', but we got really really close. Even my dad (who was being a smarty pants during the whole thing) liked it so much he took a picture of my recipe. 

I can't really blame him for wanting to make it right, but there is a line there somewhere.

So here is our copycat recipe for table-side guacamole:

2 large avocados

1/4 small red onion - not quite diced

1/4 cup lime juice

1 Tablespoon cilantro - roughly chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon jalapeno - diced

2 cloves garlic - finely chopped or squeezed through garlic press

Add a couple spoonfuls of pico de gallo on top if you like.

I made my own pico because I couldn't find any in the store. Chop some white onion and tomato and add diced jalapeno and cilantro to taste. It was pretty good.

Enjoy!

The Turners