Guacamole that's a work of art

I love avocados. Yes, I know they're a tad on the fatty side. But the way I see it, the health benefits far outweigh the fat. And besides, I figure I work it off when I go running after I eat it.
But no matter how much I love avocado, I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with guacamole. I could never find a recipe I really liked.
Finally I figured it out. It's kind of a mish mash of a few different recipes I've tried. It's also a very simple, no muss no fuss version of guacamole because I think avocados have such an amazing flavor all their own that they should just be allowed to speak for themselves. I'll also include some tips for dealing with avocados because, if you're anything like me, you've put off making your own guacamole because you don't know quite how to get the insides out.

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados
1 plum tomato, seeded and diced
juice of 1 lime
1 clove of garlic
salt

First, we need to deal with the avocados. Start by making sure they're ripe. They should be a very dark green, almost black. And when you push on the outer skin, there should be some give to them. Basically, they should look like this:


Then you're going to cut into one side till your knife finds the pit, then cut all the way around the pit. Twist the two halves and they'll separate easily. To get the pit out, wedge the blade of your knife into the pit, like this:

Once the knife is wedged in there, twist and the pit should release easily. Now we need to scoop out the insides. Take a spoon and insert it just under the skin, using it to scoop the flesh away from the outer skin. Once you've gotten rid of the skin, chop the flesh into medium size chunks (exact size isn't important) and place in a bowl.
Next, chop your clove of garlic and then paste it. To do this, you'll chop the clove, then sprinkle it liberally with salt. use the flat side of your chopping knife to apply pressure to the garlic and smoosh it back and forth against the cutting board until you have a paste consistency. I'm using very technical terms, I know but it looks something like this:



Combine garlic paste with avocado. Seed tomato (cut in half and squeeze out and discard all the seeds and juice) and dice it, adding to the bowl.
Juice the lime into the bowl.
Mix well with a fork, smashing some of the avocado chunks as you go. I've seen recipes that use a food processor for this but I wouldn't suggest it. I think it makes too liquidy a consistency. You want it to be like a dip with a few chunks left in it.
Let it sit for at least 30 minutes before serving so the flavors have a chance to marry.

** Note: In an air-tight container, the lime juice will help this keep for a few days, but not much longer. Even preserved with the juice, the avocado will eventually oxidize and turn brown.