I'm Making Avocado Cake!

As kids, you have the privilege of having your mom schedule play-dates for you. As adults, we lose that luxury of play-dates – unless you’re a Klerowski.

No, my mom doesn’t schedule a time for me to play make believe with my friends. I’m 26 years old and I can make my own phone calls. However, my sister and I believe it is of vital importance to our mental health and sisterhood to schedule a time for us to be together . . . something we like to call, “big girl play-dates.”

We try to jazz up our play times throughout the year. During the summer months, we’ll go to the beach, golfing or some occasional shopping. But when the weather turns cold, we’re forced to find indoor activities like karaoke, Christmas parties and our all time favorite: Cooking Night.

Kelly and I know how to cook, so it’s not like one is giving the other a lesson in advancing her culinary expertise. But it’s a night for us to experiment with recipes we have stashed away in a folder as something we need to try out before we serve it at a dinner party. But most importantly, something that challenges our background of traditional Yankee cooking.

Don’t worry; we still use lots of butter.

We each pick 3 recipes and while we usually have success, there is the occasional “flop” which we agree to never make again.

On Saturday’s menu, Kelly produced Asian Noodles, Goat cheese and Arugula Ravioli tossed with Pancetta and Tomatoes, and Chicken Satay Kabobs with a spicy (and I mean burn your face off) Peanut sauce.



Asian Noodles

Kelly knew what she wanted to make on Monday night. It was Saturday morning when I finalized my menu:

I told her, “I’ll be making a Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette, Spanish Shrimp, and a vegan Avocado Cake.”  *silence* “I’m sorry, you’re making a what???” she said.



Avocado Cake

The Avocado Cake was the flop. Not because it didn’t taste good (I thought it was excellent) but because my family couldn’t get past the fact that I put a vegetable in a cake. Hey – if V8 can sneak veggies in a juice, why can’t I get some in a cake?

It was chocolate based so I thought it’d be easy to get my family to try some. I ended up begging my oldest niece and my mom (2 big chocoholics) to try a bite. The consensus?

“It’s not bad . . . but I wouldn’t make it again.”

Despite the flops, Kelly and I enjoy our cooking play-dates. It’s a chance for us to be together, usually in our pajamas, and share our creative ability. Usually she gets a chuckle (and some insight) from my crazy and very experimental recipes. I learn some tid-bits from her about doing something that I already know how to do - better.

We usually don’t even talk at all.

We don’t need conversation, we just need to be together. It’s a perk to having a sister; someone you’re always connected to, someone you can always play with, someone who will laugh at the flops and enjoy the successes, someone who will be there to enjoy life’s flavors with you, and share some of the left-overs.



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