I walked to breakfast at Mickey's this past Saturday around 10 and passed truckloads of alumni and families already tailgating at full speed for the seven o'clock night game. Their ridiculously amazing amount of preparation continually amazed me.
Between the giant blow-up Buckys, grills filled with burgers and endless supply of liquor, I often wonder if they can out do the undergrads. All we had in preparation for the season's first night game was a 30-pack of beer, a left over forty, some brownies and a bowl of guacamole, which turned out to be the best feature of this spread.
Avocados are one of the top loves in my life, competing aggressively with Bob Dylan, Stomp the Yard"" and Banana Republic. Hand-made guacamole is very simple. Basically, just mash up some avocado and add things you enjoy, such as cilantro, lime, tomato or onion, among other options. You can easily find a variety of tantalizing recipes online, especially at avocados.org, which is basically an avocado lover's mecca of information.
Guacamole and avocados greatly compliment college lifestyle and eating habits. Avocados are a reasonably priced fruit. They easily cost less than $2 a pound. One or two suffice for substantial individual servings. Avocados are also quite healthy, given they're a fruit. Guacamole tastes great on sandwiches or wraps and adds a different flavor making a mundane meal a little bit more special. It's like adding Richard Simmons to a pilates video - spunky and unexpected.
As a third bonus to college life, and perhaps the most important to some, guacamole tastes great with beer. Salty tortilla chips compliment the alcohol and add a nice food base without being too filling. It's also great for sharing with a group and makes the host look classy - or classier than frozen pizza, without being as annoyingly upscale as a spread of fresh fruit with corresponding wines.
Let's be honest: No one really cares about that. Just keep it simple and bring on the cheap beer.
Avocados can be eaten, prepared and shared in almost a million different ways. Some of my favorite recently discovered options include grilling, caramelizing or puréeing. Brazilians commonly add avocados to ice cream, which sounds like a delicious combination, and Filipinos commonly mix avocados into a drink. But even greater than the options available is the flexibility avocados bring. Being a fairly tasteless treat, avocados can be manipulated to fit almost any palette.
Given all these wonderful bonuses of avocados, one can easily overlook their major drawback. In my opinion, there is only one downfall to avocados. 95 percent of them come from San Diego County in California, which has been named the Avocado Capital of the nation.
What's wrong with this, one may ask? For those not fluent in my inner passions, I have an extreme hatred for all things associated with Southern California. Wishing Southern California would break off into the ocean is even listed as one of my activities on Facebook. I've never actually been to California, but I can only imagine how terrible a place it is and, therefore, despise all things associated with it.
Despite this minor geographical drawback, avocados still rock my world. Next gameday, as I peruse the streets of Madison filled with dedicated alumni, I can scoff to myself and think how classy and convenient my guacamole waiting in my fridge is compared to their snobby cuisine. Because, after all, undergrads will always pregame best.
If you've been to California or have guacamole tips, e-mail Emily at bisek@wisc.edu.
