Let's Hear It For The Letter "A"

A month or so ago I was contemplating my topics for the A to Z challenge.  I was having a hard time coming up with stuff to write about.  For instance, the only thing that came to mind for the letter A was a pastry called an "Alligator."  It is deliriously delicious, but I don't think I could write a whole blog about it.  Nor would you want to READ an entire blog about them.  I could, however, EAT a whole "Alligator" while WRITING a blog, but that's kind of not the point of the challenge.  (Although, that could be a new and exciting challenge for the future - - eating baked goods with one hand while writing your blog with the other!)  In my self-deprecating way, I mocked myself for thinking of baked goods.  As much as I like baked goods, writing about them for a whole month would be self-destructive to my blog and to my girlish figure.   So, I needed another idea.

It was right in front of my eyes (or nose).  Food.  Not just baked goods, but ALL food.  A topic near and dear to my heart.   Now, I don't want you to think that I weigh 500 pounds or anything (although if that were true, I would hope you wouldn't judge me by that fact.)  I just like food.  I bet some of you do, too.  And certain foods bring certain memories, or evoke certain moods or feelings.  

So, 26 days of food it is.  Starting with the letter A . . .

                                                         AVOCADO

I love love love avocados.  In sandwiches, in tacos, in salads, in guacamole . . . or by themselves.   I just love them.   My mother-in-law says it's the Calfornia girl in me.  I don't know if that's true or not.  I don't remember eating avocados growing up in SoCal.  But I do love them now.

I googled "avocado" to see if I could come up with some interesting tidbits about the fruit.  Did you know that the Aztecs called it the "fertility fruit?"  I only have three children.  Enough said.  This next little "interesting tidbit" kind of grossed me out and made me wish I hadn't googled. 

The word "avocado" comes from the Spanish aguacate which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word ahuacatl (testicle, a reference to the shape of the fruit).

Ewww.

I asked a friend of mine, who is from Mexico (where the avocado originates), if she knew this about the avocado.  She did not, and was just as grossed out as I was.   I will not stop eating avocados because of this new fact that is forever embedded in my brain.  I will, however, never think of them in the same way.   Thanks google.