Avocados and the National Spelling Bee??

Hmmm. Let's see. How can I justify writing about the National Spelling Bee on this blog about avocados? How about this - "Spell Avocado"   Can I have the definition please? Can you put that word in a sentence? Country of origin?  Avocado A-V-O-C-A-D-O Avocado.

O.K. Does that justify my whining and complaining about the ABC coverage of the National Spelling Bee? What a mistake to move the spelling bee from ESPN to ABC.  ABC absolutely sucked the heart and soul out of the bee. What has always been a wonderful contest of smart, cute and let's face it - nerdy kids, became a reality show with no charm whatsoever. With the two hosts talking loudly over the actual contest, the blond bimbo interviewer who had no idea how to talk to kids, the slick, filmed bios of the contestants that made them try to be entertaining when they're really bookworms and not rock stars - it was a total mess. The timing was all off, with commercials (even the winner commented on the too many commercials), the jumping from parents, to contest, to commentators and all at the wrong time. It was a mess. Please someone, bring the spelling bee finals back to ESPN where it belongs.

Youtube wouldn't let me use the video of the winner - Anamika Veeramani because of copyright issues so I'm using this video instead. Enjoy.



 

In the Grove

Last Thursday and Friday our grove was a hubbub of activity. The pickers were here, finally. We've been waiting and waiting for our crop to be picked. Helen, our friend who also has a grove put it best in her comment, "I love it when the crew comes with the tall ladders clattering from tree to tree, the music is playing and there's generally a festive feeling." The real festive feeling though, is when the check arrives!! Here are the bins full of beautiful green gold.

 This is how they load the bins onto the truck to take our precious avocados to the packing house:

Goodbye 2010 crop. Actually, that's not all the crop. There's still lots of fruit on the trees. They'll be back to pick more later. In the meantime, I'll keep picking avos that I can use to whip up more recipes. Hopefully, they'll be successful and I can share them with you.