By August is breathing down my neck. In three weeks, Zoe starts 10th grade and I start my eighteenth year as a school counselor. Eighteen years of small offices and big feelings and the belief, persistent and irrational, that I can make a difference one child at a time.
Jasmine called from DC — she's staying for a summer journalism internship. She sounds different. Older. The Jasmine who left for Howard ten months ago was a girl who called home three times a week. The Jasmine I hear now calls twice. The drift is natural. Healthy. It still hurts, the way a healing wound hurts — necessary pain that proves the thing is mending.
Marcus is in Atlanta for the summer, working as a research assistant for his psychology professor. He comes over for Sunday dinner, arrives starving, and eats like the food might disappear. He talks about adolescent brain development with the reverence other boys reserve for basketball statistics. Terrell's DNA made the body. My kitchen made the man.
Cookbook progress: wrote the entry for Mama's sweet potato pie this week. The recipe is sacred — not the individual ingredients but the combination, the way Mama's hands knew exactly how much cinnamon without measuring. I tried to capture "by feel" for an audience that has measuring spoons. It's like translating a language with no dictionary.
Made chicken tacos Tuesday — simple, fast. Seasoned chicken, corn tortillas, avocado, pickled onions, cilantro, lime. Zoe said, "These are restaurant level." They were good-kitchen level, which is better than restaurant level because restaurant level is for strangers and good-kitchen level is for family.
The avocado on those Tuesday tacos — sliced thin, laid over seasoned chicken on a warm corn tortilla — was the kind of ingredient that quietly holds everything together. It got me thinking about how much I reach for avocado when I want something that feels both nourishing and a little indulgent, which is exactly the mood August puts me in. Before the school year starts, before Zoe’s schedule fills up and mine does too, I want mornings that are slow and creamy and green — so this smoothie has become part of our end-of-summer ritual, something easy enough to make before anyone’s fully awake but good enough that Zoe actually drinks it without negotiating.
Avocado Smoothies
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 2 ripe avocados, pitted and scooped
- 1 cup whole milk (or unsweetened oat milk)
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup ice cubes
- Pinch of fine sea salt
Instructions
- Prep the avocados. Halve each avocado, remove the pits, and scoop the flesh directly into your blender. Make sure the avocados are ripe — they should give slightly when pressed and have no brown spots inside.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Pour in the milk, Greek yogurt, honey, lime juice, and vanilla extract. Add the ice cubes and pinch of salt.
- Blend until smooth. Blend on high for 45–60 seconds, stopping once to scrape down the sides if needed. The smoothie should be thick, pale green, and completely creamy with no lumps.
- Taste and adjust. Taste for sweetness — add another drizzle of honey if you’d like, or a little more lime juice if you want it brighter. Blend for another 10 seconds if you adjust.
- Pour and serve immediately. Divide between two tall glasses. Serve right away; avocado smoothies are best fresh, before the color deepens.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 8g | Fat: 20g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 8g | Sodium: 95mg