Alton Brown Guacamole Recipe

This recipe is not our own, it comes directly from culinary master-mind, Alton Brown. Check out Food Network's website for the recipe and give them some love in their comments section.

This guacamole recipe has been a HUGE HIT at family gatherings and parties. It takes traditional guacamole and kicks it up a few notches. To me, the secret ingredient is the cumin. If the picture above isn't enough to convince you, visit us sometime when we make it this summer and I'm sure you'll be convinced!

Recipe:
3 haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl, place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice. Toss to coat. Drain and reserve the lime juice. After all of the avocados have been coated, using a potato masher, add salt, cumin and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour then serve.

Audi A3: 55,000 Miles Later

For a long time, the Audi A3 was a mythical automobile that I could only get access to through pictures on the Internet. I used to spend hours scouring the web for all of the cool cars the Europeans got that we just never would. We were told cars like the A3 just wouldn't make sense in the United States. After all, hatch backs weren't exactly the most popular car and sedans still outsell hatches. However, the last couple of years have started to change the way Americans think about flat backed cars. We're seeing more and more on the road with cars like the Ford Fiesta and Mazda3 being super popular hatch backs. When Audi announced that they'd finally be bringing their A3 model to the United States, I promptly traded in my Volkswagen Golf and picked up my 2006 Audi A3.

Volkswagen products (Volkswagen A.G. owns Audi by the way) were not exactly known to be the most reliable of cars. In fact, in the late 90's and early 00's, they were down right dreadful. My 2001 Golf suffered from multiple problems and build quality issues. When the A3 came out, I took the opportunity to ditch the Golf (even with its problems I loved it) and grab a new car. Of course deep down I knew that what I was buying was a tarted up Golf as the A3, TT, Jetta and New Beetle are essentially the same car underneath their skin with different engines plopped in. So how has it been? Did it follow in the footsteps of my previous car and break down?

Actually, the A3 has been awesome. Audi really took the lessons they saw Volkswagen painfully learning and created an amazing car. While the A3 is a tarted up (and more expensive) GTi, it has enough differences and features to have made me choose it over another VW. I was done being a "boy racer" and instead wanting something I would be comfortable sitting in. The A3 is more understated and doesn't call too much attention to itself. It also came with all the options and setup that I wanted. In previous car purchases, I bought thinking about all the upgrades I would want to make. With this car, I wanted to buy something that was already perfect for me.

Part of increasing my comfort was to move away from manual transmissions. Don't get me wrong, ultimately, the most fun you can have driving is throwing the stick through your gears and getting everything out of your engine that you could want. While I wanted to be comfortable, I didn't want to lose a sense of fun while driving so the A3's transmission was the biggest draw for me to this car.


Volkswagen and Audi developed an awesome transmission they call DSG (Direkt-Schalt-Getriebe) which can drive like an automatic OR a manual. DSG gear boxes are technically two manual transmissions and two clutches inside of one box. One clutch controls 1st, 3rd and 5th gear while the other controls 2nd, 4th and 6th. This means that while driving in first gear, the gear box already has 2nd gear ready. The result is lightning fast and smooth gear changes. Having come from a traditional manual transmission car, I felt an instant charge of excitement while using this transmission. The best part is that this gear box brought the F1 style paddle shifting set up to a super affordable car. I also have to admit that the little DSG "fart" that happens at each gear change (exhaust note) is super fun.


Another fun bit of the car is the Open Sky moon roof feature which makes 90% of the roof a glass panel. One drawback to this is that the folding panels to cover them up when its too hot outside aren't solid pieces so the sun can never fully be blocked out. However, on pleasant days, the view passengers get is spectacular. Leather seats, a decent sound system, and a completely confusing climate control system round out the rest of the car.

55,000 miles and 5 years later I'm still extremely happy with the car. Its served me well and I don't anticipate selling or trading in until its at least ten years old. The A3 suits our lifestyle quite well giving us ample storage room and comfort on long drives (though the tightness of the sport suspension can bug Sarah at times). Buying the A3 was a good purchase and it has taught me that if I wish long and hard enough, my attainable dream cars will start being sold in the US.

So, Audi, how about sending some red diesel A4 wagons over here? Sound good? I'll buy it if you do.

Flashlight: iPhone App Review

I don't know how many times a week I use this app. It is honestly one of the most useful apps I've downloaded for my iPhone. Usually I want to pick a screenshot of the app in action but for this one, I would only be showing you an image of a white screen.

Flashlight's most basic function is to produce a bright white image on your iPhone's screen. You can use this to illuminate your path if you're walking through a dark room, or help you read text in sub-optimal lighting conditions.

Sure, you could just wake your phone up and use the light it gives off but this app can do so much more.

In this screen shot you can see that they have an option to use the LED light on the back of your phone. Normally this is used as a flash for your camera. You can operate the LED light with this app to use as a flashlight rather than your display. You can also set it to flash an S.O.S. signal (handy for those times when you REALLY need help) or to emit a constant beam.

Flashlight lets you use other colors on your display as well. Personally I've only ever needed to use the bright white screen but its nice to know I could use the strobe flashing neon green screen if I wanted.

So, if you want to avoid stubbing toes in the dark, download this free app from the iTunes store.

LEGO Starcraft 2 Battle Tank

I may not be a Starcraft player (I seriously lack that kind of coordination) but I can appreciate an amazing model of one of the machines in the game. Someone definitely took their time with this LEGO model of the battle tank.

Meme Monday: Philosoraptor

Meme Monday brings you a weekly Internet Meme that we have found. Internet Memes are described as something that catches on like wildfire with Internet communities with no outside source of promotion. They exist purely for enjoyment and laughs.