One time I had a friend over for lunch, and I was serving avocados. As I began the yucky process of peeling and de-pitting the avocado, she offered up a very easy, astonishingly amazing "trick" that I never knew about peeling and de-pitting avacados.
[In case you don't know it, either, I'll tell you... Slice into the avocado all the way to the pit, then circumnavigate the entire avocado with the knife. Twist the two halves you've made in opposite directions, and the thing will separate into two perfect halves, one of which will contain the pit. (That much I had known previously, but this next part I'd never seen or heard before Sarah taught it to me. Thanks again, Sarah!) At this point in the process, you can whack your (large, substantial) knife straight down into the pit so it sticks a little, then twist. Just like that, the pit slides out just as clean and smooth as it did on the other half. How many avocado halves have I destroyed over my lifetime by digging my thumb into them, trying to get the dumb pit out?!]
Anyway, I was astonished and thrilled at this trick that I'd never known, which made this thing I did rather regularly so much easier. The first thing I did? I called all my kids into the kitchen and made sure they knew the trick. Over the next few days, I called a few of my friends and said, "Do you know this astonishing trick about cleanly de-pitting an avocado?" The first friend I called said, "Yes, I knew that. But I didn't know that you didn't know that, so I never told you, of course." We shared a good laugh, and then I called the next person. Her response? "Yeah, I know about that, but it doesn't work." As I assured her that I had just done it, and that it did - in fact - work great, she made some sort of, "Yeah, right" snort and I decided to get off the phone. Life's too short to try to help people who don't want to be helped. The third person I called quipped something about not believing that I still eat avocados since they are so high in fat. (I no longer try to have discussions with people who are strongly in the "high fat is our biggest problem" health camp unless I'm asked a direct question by someone who's open and curious. It is much too radical a shift in thinking for them to consider anything else unless they're investigating and willing to research a bit.)
At any rate, all in all, my phone campaign was not all that successful. I didn't really get to share the great discovery with anyone whose life was going to be made easier by it. And so it went. That was probably three or four years ago now, and I've not destroyed probably hundreds of avocados since then.
So why post about it here, now, three or four years later? Because this morning I discovered a similar "trick" which, if it works, will equally thrill and astonish me, and which I will want to share. And since "word of mouth" in today's world no longer happens by mouth, but online, I decided to post it here. Does it actually work? I have no idea... I haven't tried it yet. But his video seems to indicate that it does, and - if so - hooray for another time-saving, labor-saving, water-saving (I've usually tried to peel them under running water to make it easier), frustration-saving procedure. And good for him for making a video to share with those of us who care to benefit from others' experience and wisdom.
So there it is. And if you're thinking, "I can't believe you're still eating eggs because they're so high in cholesterol," then we'll talk some day later, if you ever get curious and directly ask me about it.
Happy non-peeling!
[In case you don't know it, either, I'll tell you... Slice into the avocado all the way to the pit, then circumnavigate the entire avocado with the knife. Twist the two halves you've made in opposite directions, and the thing will separate into two perfect halves, one of which will contain the pit. (That much I had known previously, but this next part I'd never seen or heard before Sarah taught it to me. Thanks again, Sarah!) At this point in the process, you can whack your (large, substantial) knife straight down into the pit so it sticks a little, then twist. Just like that, the pit slides out just as clean and smooth as it did on the other half. How many avocado halves have I destroyed over my lifetime by digging my thumb into them, trying to get the dumb pit out?!]
Anyway, I was astonished and thrilled at this trick that I'd never known, which made this thing I did rather regularly so much easier. The first thing I did? I called all my kids into the kitchen and made sure they knew the trick. Over the next few days, I called a few of my friends and said, "Do you know this astonishing trick about cleanly de-pitting an avocado?" The first friend I called said, "Yes, I knew that. But I didn't know that you didn't know that, so I never told you, of course." We shared a good laugh, and then I called the next person. Her response? "Yeah, I know about that, but it doesn't work." As I assured her that I had just done it, and that it did - in fact - work great, she made some sort of, "Yeah, right" snort and I decided to get off the phone. Life's too short to try to help people who don't want to be helped. The third person I called quipped something about not believing that I still eat avocados since they are so high in fat. (I no longer try to have discussions with people who are strongly in the "high fat is our biggest problem" health camp unless I'm asked a direct question by someone who's open and curious. It is much too radical a shift in thinking for them to consider anything else unless they're investigating and willing to research a bit.)
At any rate, all in all, my phone campaign was not all that successful. I didn't really get to share the great discovery with anyone whose life was going to be made easier by it. And so it went. That was probably three or four years ago now, and I've not destroyed probably hundreds of avocados since then.
So why post about it here, now, three or four years later? Because this morning I discovered a similar "trick" which, if it works, will equally thrill and astonish me, and which I will want to share. And since "word of mouth" in today's world no longer happens by mouth, but online, I decided to post it here. Does it actually work? I have no idea... I haven't tried it yet. But his video seems to indicate that it does, and - if so - hooray for another time-saving, labor-saving, water-saving (I've usually tried to peel them under running water to make it easier), frustration-saving procedure. And good for him for making a video to share with those of us who care to benefit from others' experience and wisdom.
So there it is. And if you're thinking, "I can't believe you're still eating eggs because they're so high in cholesterol," then we'll talk some day later, if you ever get curious and directly ask me about it.
Happy non-peeling!
2 comments:
Oh, by the way, I did try this egg trick, and though I don't usually waste time trying to blow the egg out, I have found that eggs cooked in this way are extremely easy to peel. In fact, I shared this information at the hotel we stayed at in New York, and the morning hard-boiled eggs will never be the same. The first morning we were there, everyone destroyed his egg and had 876 little pieces of egg shell on his plate. The second morning we were there, everyone had perfectly whole hard-boiled eggs, and only 2 pieces of egg shell on his plate. So the lives of literally dozens of people a day have now been made easier because I shared this trick with the hotel kitchen staff wiping down counters that day. Hooray for folks willing to share helpful hints (AND for folks willing to receive them)!
And here's another one, just discovered today. I can't count the number of times I've destroyed the pomegranate (and the seeds) trying to get them out! Hooray for this tip!!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oyTRkUTtgic&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoyTRkUTtgic
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