Most Fantastic Avocado Smoothie

I don't like that word "smoothie" so much, but what else is one to call it? A "creamy"? A "smooth beverage of choice"? Smoothie just calls to mind a brand slogan for laxatives, not a delicious beverage made with magical fruits and fabulous milks. And stuff.

Here is how I made a most fantastic avocado smoothie.

First, I did some research in the field. This involved a trip to Chicago, whereby I found myself with time to spare and ducked in to a little Japanese smoothie shop on the Magnificent Mile to quack my order: "I would like an avocado papaya... smoothie... please. Arigato."

It was okay. A little too cold. The avocado taste not as dominant nor as avocadoey as I would like. And so, I decided I would make my own version. This, though, was not something to rush into. A thing of beauty, and tastiness, is worth the time it takes to develop a perfect plan to concoct it. Last Saturday, after the market, the heavens presented me with another opportunity to try an avocado smooth beverage of choice at Roots Vegetarian Restaurant and Juice Bar on the corner of the square in Bloomington. The menu said it would be made with apple juice. That didn't seem right to me. I chose, instead, soy milk, and in my mind decided I would make my smoothie, when the time came, with refridgerated coconut milk.

This morning was a magical morning, I woke up with only a few minutes to let out the dogs and get ready to leave for work. I decided, for my greatest good, to allocate some of those precious minutes to the making of my avocado blender drink. And so, here is how it went down.

- One frozen banana

- One perfectly ripe avocado

- 3/4- to 1-cup refridgerated vanilla coconut milk

I then fortunately remembered that I had the remainder of a very ripe fresh papaya in the fridge waiting to find its culinary calling in life.

- 3/4- to 1-cup fresh papaya pieces

BLEND THE HELL OUT OF IT! Well, actually, you do want to avoid over-blending, easy does it-- remember, smoooooth-- otherwise, we would call them runnies, and that's even more evocative of the entire line of laxative-related thinking we are trying to avoid. You want it to be the consistency where you don't know if you should drink it or eat it with a spoon, and every time you try to drink it you think you should eat it with a spoon, but every time you try to eat it with a spoon you soon revert to drinking it. This is the only frustrating thing about this smoothie. The rest is pure avocado bliss. "Blissies"!