california native

this weekend the california avocado festival came to town. there are so many of these fruit trees in our valley i guess it's natural that there would be a festival to celebrate it. did you know that california grows about ninety percent of this nation's avocado crop? today my sister and i went. we wandered and looked and admired and ate. i took lindy to see our new quilt ~ knitting shop too, it's my favorite place in town.

i bought a new skirt and a tshirt at the festival to benefit here ( i love the mission statement of my friend who began epmov. i chose indonesia for the memories i have of being there). and lindy bought us each a soy candle that's named christmas eve. it's become a kind of tradition for us, we each have the same candle and when we light it, we think of the other. this year we'll both be smelling christmas eve all through december. that little notebook is mine too. it needed to come home with me when i read the words on the cover...'we are all wanderers on this earth; our hearts are full of wonder and our souls are deep with dreams.'

and for you, a recipe i picked up today:

avocado pasta salad with red pepper & feta cheese

serves 4

6 oz. penne (or other short, tube pasta)

1/3 cup vinaigrette dressing

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup pitted black olives, coarsely chopped

3/4 tsp. chopped garlic

2 tsp. chopped parsley

2 ripe fresh california avocados, peeled, seeded and diced

cook pasta in salted, boiling water until just tender, about 10 minutes; drain well.

while still warm, toss with vinaigrette.

fold in remaining ingredients and serve.

for additional recipe ideas, visit california avocado.com and if you need any avocados, i have plenty to share too. xxx lori