Avocado

Anyone older than 18 might want to sit down for this. Remember avocado green and harvest gold, the colors that permeated the '60s and early '70s? They're back! If you're old enough to vote, you're old enough to remember how, like some primordial ooze, they took over living-room carpets, sofas and armchairs, kitchen counters, major appliances, toasters, blenders, telephones and all manner of housewares ad nauseam. These days, hardly anyone will admit to having liked this putrid palette, but back then, it looked appropriately earthy.

Cholesterol-free and sodium-free, avocados are a natural for a healthy lifestyle. They're nutrient-dense in dietary fiber, potassium, and Vitamins C, E, B6, and folate. And they're so versatile you can add them to just about anything, from salads to salsa. According to a recent government report, Dietary Guidelines 2000, avocados contribute to a healthy diet because, like olives, they are high in monounsaturated fat, the type shown to help lower blood cholesterol. The report, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services, was designed to help Americans select eating patterns that meet nutritional requirements, promote health, and reduce chronic-disease risks.

Call it ecologically correct. Call it environmentally sensitive. But, whatever you do, don't call it avocado. Red might be the emotionally hot hue on the color wheel, but green is the shade that's heating up interior design this season. "There are so many greens," said Barbara Winfield, author of The Complete Book of Home Details. "I'm even seeing avocado green nowadays, though it's not being called that and, in truth, is not the exact color we remember from the '70s. " Until recently, Winfield explained, green had a somewhat negative association.

Company line: Three flour tortillas with grilled shrimp in a spicy chile-lime sauce topped with fresh cilantro-lime slaw, house-made pico de gallo and sliced avocados. Chain: Chili's. Location: 1239 Filbert St. Order time: 13 minutes. Price: $10.79 Calories: 1,010, with 40 grams of protein, 43 grams of fat and 3,040 mgs of sodium (less than 2,300 mgs of sodium per day is recommended). Review : Chains are supposed to be all about consistency, but you can never take out the human element.

I SAW AN ad the other day pushing bacon as an ideal Valentine's Day gift, and I had to laugh. It's like saying, "Here, sweetheart, I want you to die sooner!" OK, I know this holiday is not about eating "right. " It's about something bigger, and that something is love. Love and chocolate. Dark chocolate is the treat that loves you back. Healthwise, you can have your chocolate cake and eat it, too, especially if you mix it with - don't laugh - fruits and veggies. It's not a new idea.

What is it? A source for Venezuelan comfort food - yummy grilled arepas stuffed with chicken and avocado and the sweetest of sweet plantains - at affordable prices. Arepas 101: As the child of Venezuelan immigrants, yours truly is very familiar with Venezuela's staple food, which can be eaten at any meal. It's made out of ground corn flour formed into patties and baked, grilled or fried. At Delicias and areperas (arepa restaurants in Caracas, Venezuela's capital city)

"Fruit sushi. You mean rice with fruit?" she asked. "I mean rice, fruit and seafood," I replied. In their bid to be different, sushi chefs will put out such experiments. At Misso in Center City, Alex Long tucks kiwi in with asparagus, avocado and yellowtail in his Area 51 roll. Margaret Kuo's angel roll includes julienned green apple with white seaweed. At Wild Ginger, the pan-Asian BYOB in Justa Farm Shopping Center in Huntingdon Valley, the color angel roll is a riot of salty and sweet flavors as banana and eel meld in soybean paper, topped with caviar.

Philadelphia and San Diego may have some things in common - they're both large cities, with even larger cities about 100 miles to their north - but this year they won't share the Mummers. Seems that after the Southern Californians' initial love-fest with the Mummers in the early 1980s, the cultural clash proved too much to overcome. "The interest just wasn't there anymore," said Joe Crescenzo, a Philadelphia expatriate who helped organize the first San Diego Mummers Parade in 1982.

What to eat: Gourmet grilled cheese, or "brown-bagged meltyness," as owner Alan Krawitz likes to call it. Don't miss: Building your own sammie for $5 to $6 with such saliva-stirring add-ons as buffalo sauce, salsa, blue-cheese dressing, avocado, bacon and fried onions. On the menu: Goodies like the Mary D ("Grandma's meatballs meet grilled cheese"); the Presto Pesto (chicken topped with pesto, provolone, spinach and tomato); El Duke (sirloin chip steak topped with jalapeño jack cheese, salsa, refried beans and avocado)

I SAW AN ad the other day pushing bacon as an ideal Valentine's Day gift, and I had to laugh. It's like saying, "Here, sweetheart, I want you to die sooner!" OK, I know this holiday is not about eating "right. " It's about something bigger, and that something is love. Love and chocolate. Dark chocolate is the treat that loves you back. Healthwise, you can have your chocolate cake and eat it, too, especially if you mix it with - don't laugh - fruits and veggies. It's not a new idea.

What is it? A source for Venezuelan comfort food - yummy grilled arepas stuffed with chicken and avocado and the sweetest of sweet plantains - at affordable prices. Arepas 101: As the child of Venezuelan immigrants, yours truly is very familiar with Venezuela's staple food, which can be eaten at any meal. It's made out of ground corn flour formed into patties and baked, grilled or fried. At Delicias and areperas (arepa restaurants in Caracas, Venezuela's capital city)

½ onion, coarsely chopped (about ? cup) 2 cloves garlic, peeled 1 serrano or jalapeño chile, stemmed and seeded ½ cup red wine vinegar ¼ cup olive oil 2 teaspoons yellow prepared mustard ½ cup cilantro leaves and tender stems 4 Hass avocados, pitted and peeled 1 teaspoon salt     1. Place the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. (I use a hand blender.) You may need to fiddle with the ingredients, pushing them around with a spatula.

2 ripe avocados 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice Scant ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt (don't heap this) ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro 1 tablespoon clarified butter or extra-virgin coconut oil 1 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds 1 small yellow onion, minced 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 teaspoon Indian curry powder 1 small serrano chile, minced     1. Cut each avocado in half, remove the...

What to eat: Gourmet grilled cheese, or "brown-bagged meltyness," as owner Alan Krawitz likes to call it. Don't miss: Building your own sammie for $5 to $6 with such saliva-stirring add-ons as buffalo sauce, salsa, blue-cheese dressing, avocado, bacon and fried onions. On the menu: Goodies like the Mary D ("Grandma's meatballs meet grilled cheese"); the Presto Pesto (chicken topped with pesto, provolone, spinach and tomato); El Duke (sirloin chip steak topped with jalapeño jack cheese, salsa, refried beans and avocado)

Company line: Three flour tortillas with grilled shrimp in a spicy chile-lime sauce topped with fresh cilantro-lime slaw, house-made pico de gallo and sliced avocados. Chain: Chili's. Location: 1239 Filbert St. Order time: 13 minutes. Price: $10.79 Calories: 1,010, with 40 grams of protein, 43 grams of fat and 3,040 mgs of sodium (less than 2,300 mgs of sodium per day is recommended). Review : Chains are supposed to be all about consistency, but you can never take out the human element.

Among the come-ons in these last desperate days of August, we are seeing tomato feasts and three-martini lunches, and last week something called "The Five Bite Lunch" surfaced at 10 Arts, the bistro behind the towering columns of the Ritz-Carlton, south of City Hall. No harm in trying to jump-start the lunch trade. Lunch is a tricky business at the higher end at the end of summer, and the three-course menu that 10 Arts (home base of Top Chef star Jennifer "Chef Jen" Carroll, who's outta town until next month)

PARIS - There's a reason the cucumber is the star of its own cliche. Slender and elegant, bumpy or smooth-skinned, cucumbers really do have a cooling effect on the body, which is why they're perfect in summer salads, soups, and sides. Part of the gourd family, which includes watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin, and squash, cukes have a great nutritional profile: They're low-cal (just 13 per cup), and contain Vitamins C and A, as well as potassium, magnesium, folate, dietary fiber, and the mineral silica.

You have your sweet, you have your tart, you have your creamy. They all come together in this almost-too-beautiful-to-eat summertime appetizer from chef Lou Boquilla at Audrey Claire in Rittenhouse Square. The crab and apple terrine is topped with avocado slices and drizzled with a roasted garlic and yellow pepper emulsion. Crab-and-apple terrine ($13) at Audrey Claire, 271 S. 20th St., 215-731-1222.

First, at the Friday-evening-jammed counter at El Rey, comes my order of three palm-sized lamb tacos ( arbes , on the menu). Well, make it second. First is a chubby tumbler of a margarita, ice-packed, light salt on the rim. Someone's elbow pokes me on one side, oblivious. Inches on the other is another guy: he looks like he could sub for one of El Rey's plaid-shirted counter guys: Hmmm , but he's reading a monograph titled, Transoral Robotic Surgery: Does the Ends Justify the Means . (Yes, it says "does the ends," which I can't help but point out.)