As we enter spring, it’s been a tough end to the season with snow flurries and chilly temperatures in New York. But there’s no use complaining about the weather because, in the words of Miss Diana Ross, “…there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it.” Instead I’ve been getting in the tail end of apple, squash, citrus, and hearty greens before the spring fruits and vegetables arrive – starting with stalks of rhubarb, which I love poaching in spiced red wine, cooking into rhubarb jam, or mixing with strawberries, before moving on to cherries and apricots.

While I'm patiently waiting, I’ve been basking in glorious avocados ever since I discovered a spot where they sell big, plump, ripe organic beauties, which don’t cost a fortune. I bring an extra bag when I go because I always buy too many. As in, five at a time. I’ve been averaging eating one ripe avocado per day, making sure I’m getting my jumbo dose of all that stuff in avocados that's supposed to make them good for you. And if they're not good for you, I don't want to know about it! (Boo on naysayers...)

Oddly, the first time I had avocados, I didn’t like them. I was visiting family in Los Angeles, and having grown up in New England, we never had avocados. If they were available, I’d never eaten one. We were having dinner at the long-gone Scandia, on Sunset Boulevard, where salads were made tableside by the waiters and served on ice-cold plates. We had a chopped vegetable salad, before “chopped vegetable salads” were cool, and in our salads were slippery little green cubes of avocado. At the time, I found them greasy and slimy, and politely (and foolishly) pushed them to the side of my plate.

As I got older, I “got” avocados, and fell madly in love with the lovely green beauties, and, of course, discovered guacamole. While there is a lot of hubbub about who makes the best guacamole, what makes the best guacamole - some swear by adding a dollop of mayo, others say no to cilantro, or yes to it, then there are the folks that want to include diced tomatoes, etc – the early versions I remember having were made by some Mexican cooks in Los Angeles, which they made by mashing avocado with Pace-brand salsa. And while I now make my own guacamole, and don’t add tomatoes to it, I did recently make a speedy version with some chipotle salsa in it, and it wasn’t bad!

If you do love guacamole, and would like some inspiration for various versions, you might want to check out Absolutely Avocados, written by my friend Gaby. I churned up a batch of her Avocado-Coconut Ice Cream for my blog a while back.

My current batches of guacamole come out of my new granite mortar and pestle. (Which I got at TJ Maxx – in Brooklyn, of all places...) I’ve added a bottle of tequila and Triple Sec to my mini-bar, and invited some friends over for sunny glasses of orange margaritas and (yet another) batch of guacamole.

I’ve also been digging into some seafood while I’m in New York, and brought home a big bag of Little Neck clams to make a batch of New England Clam Chowder. Being a New Englander, I was raised on this milk-based soup, although chowder has French origins, as I discovered. The theory is that Breton fisherman who immigrated to Nova Scotia, may have made the first chowdah, although they likely didn’t have a Boston accent. Not sure how you'd say it with a French one.

I love that food is universal and also like that food evolves and transcends different cultures. So I’m happy to have a French-based soup in America, Mexican guacamole in New York, and on occasion, croissants (Viennese in origin) and macarons (Italian in origin) back in Paris, where I’ll be heading to at the end of the month. See you then! - David

Speaking of food origins and authenticity, I found the interview with Mile End deli co-owner, Noah Bernamoff very interesting as he talked about people proclaiming/boasting certain foods as the “best” of their genre, which sometimes turns into a competition. Add to that, there are those eager to stake claims of provenance and authenticity. I've always thought it amusing how some will fight about keeping foods in other countries strictly authentic, even through they have no ties to the other place. Often, much more so than the locals!

I’m all for preserving traditions and in my experience, usually the most faithful rendition of the classics are the best. But I’ll confess to having a Chicken Caesar Salad on occasion, putting breadcrumbs on my cassoulet, and I once had a bagel with – yikes – dried cranberries in it. (Although I’m still not ready for clam chowder with tomatoes in it. But I respect those who are.)

People forget that Italians didn’t always have tomatoes. The beans the French use for their cassoulet came from elsewhere. Thai foods didn’t always contain chiles. And as much as I love Italian coffee, it came to us from Africa and espresso is a relatively new invention. But we've come to accept it as the classic Italian cup. I wonder if there was an uproar when that was invented?

And as much as we associate bagels with New York and Montreal, the iconic bread with the hole was given to us by Poland. Other cultures have circular breads with holes, like simit – so unless you want to sit down with a food anthropologist, the argument about where bagels really came from, and who makes the most authentic one, is going to be a long, complicated discussion.

So why not just relax? Food changes and evolves. People in Montreal are going to eat their smoked meat, and New Yorkers will have their pastrami. Which is better? Why compare them? Just enjoy. In a rush? Add a spoonful of salsa to that mashed avocado. And if you want an espresso with a Parisian macaron...or an Italian one - eat up!

I’ll be making some appearances in the U.S. this month..

- April 3: Booksigning at Omnivore Books, San Francisco. 6-7pm. (If you can't make it, you can order a signed book through their website via the link.)

- April 11: New York Culinary Experience.

- April 13: Cooking class,De Gustibus, New York City.

- April 16: Talk at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. 6:30pm. Newcomb Hall Theater. (Free and open to the public.)

- April 17: Booksigning at Barnes & Noble, Charlottesville, VA. 5:30pm.

- And for those of you who want to visit the incredible Ballymaloe Cookery School, I'll be participating in the Ballymaloe Lit Fest on May 15-17th with other authors, cooks, and chefs.

- We celebrated (perhaps...) the end of winter with glasses of sunny, icy cold Orange Margaritas.

- A Tasty Trip to Queens, one of the most diverse culinary neighborhoods in America, where you can get everything from Thai to Tibetan. Which we did!

- I love dark Chocolate Pudding and made a double-chocolate batch, adding a triple does of chocolate with caramelized cocoa nibs. They are easy to make, and I snacked on the sugary nibs for days – and days – afterward.

- Canada meets Brooklyn at the hybrid Mile End deli.

- Baker Nick Malgieri shares his French Apple Pie recipe.

- My favorite dessert of all time just may be Œufs à la neige, sometimes known as Floating Islands. Check out the recipe!

See you next month! - dl