of avocados & hazelnuts ....

late last night was considered day 3 for the seed culture of the starter. being a good father, i fed it on time and woke up to some activity within the culture [though not as active as i was hoping for]. something is better than nothing, right? i will [im]patiently wait for the next day and a half now until i have to refeed it. below is what i woke up to. [i know, it looks gross. not exactly what u want to wake up to!].

and now the close-up shot, for what it's worth,

you can see the beginning of small bubbles due to the fermentation reaction/s and the mixture seemed to be swelled up — a very good sign. when i checked it, after aerating it as instructed, i could now smell [and taste] the beginning of fermentation and development of the wild yeast spores.

i have been happy to discover that my "allergy" to hazelnuts seems to have miraculously disappeared. whereas years ago i couldn't eat these things at all without suffering, it seems that my accidental eating of a few chocolates with hazelnut paste in them did nothing at all to me. i experimented a bit, and as long as the stuff is cooked, i seem to have no reaction. bizarre but it makes sense. once the nuts are cooked, the chemical structure is changed. i have the same problem with walnuts and almonds. if i eat them raw.....where's my benadryl and epipen??!! uggh. i am living dangerously, i know. so to celebrate, i got a bottle of something i once tried and loved. so far, so good. no problems. i will live dangerously for the moment and enjoy [in limited spoonfuls, of course]. here is my new love ;-p

have to figure out in the next day or two what i want to do with those avocados. not fully ripe yet, so i have time. no way on the guaca-mo-lay. maybe a cold soup. we shall see. for more information on avocados, click here & here. a fun read.