An Avocado A Day...

Those were the days.

Look, we've got more apples than we know what to do with dotting the lawns under trees. Red ones, green ones and in between ones but the one thing we don't have are avocado trees.

South Africa the land of sunshine. Sunshine and fruit. Avocados being on my mind today. I remember that at one of the places we lived, there was a huge avocado tree in the garden. Those lovely buttery avocados. Big almost twice the size of a normal fruit and more paler in colour with a more buttery flavour. Most of us didn't realize how healthy they were and it was way before the now fashionable Sushi Restaurants sprouted from every street corner.

Gosh, just thinking of it makes my mouth water. Cutting an avocado in half and either eating it plain with a dash of salt or spreading it liberally on a well buttered slice of toast was as easy and normal as eating an apple from the garden.

Those were the days indeed as now, eating an avocado is a symbol of luxury and not often had. Paying a euro fifty for one tiny fruit, one where you often risk the chance of the flesh being brown, takes some getting used to especially since I recall a time when I picked them of our tree in the back garden.

Now and again they have a special and we spoil ourselves. As you can imagine we don't leave a hint of green stuck to the peel. There's only one bit missing and that is the divine South African bread. As much as we used to moan about only getting the rectangular loaf, now I miss it. Nothing more scrumptious than a fresh slice of white bread encased in either peanut butter, avocado or the more sedate hint of Marmite.

Biggi