Corn Salad with Avocados and Lime

When I first offered corn on the cob to my Franco-German husband Sami, he looked somewhat horrified. "What's this? We give this to pigs in Europe!" Sure, he was used to canned corn in everything from salad to pizza, but on the cob? Not so much. Now he'll eat good sweet corn, but he doesn't search it out.
All this to say that corn on the cob, and especially good corn, is not the easiest thing to find here in France. Fortunately, I live in a town with a lot of foreigners, and there are vendors at the market who cater to our strange tastes. Thus I was able to buy (kind of mediocre) corn at the "special price" of three for 3 Euros!

But that was the most difficult part about making this delicious salad. I began by marinating a couple of scallions and a clove of chopped garlic in the juice of two limes and some salt for about half an hour (while I briefly cooked the corn and fixed the main course: macaroni and cheese). This toned down the raw onion/garlic bite quite a bit.
I then chopped up a large handful of cherry tomatoes and cut the corn off the cob. Those went into the salad bowl to wait until dinner was almost ready.

  I then went to cut up what turned out to be the Avocados of My Discontent. It's a shame that avocados, as expensive as they are, can be such a crapshoot.

But I salvaged quite a bit from them, and added them to the salad along with a bit of olive oil and some chopped (frozen) cilantro. And there I had a delicious salad with sweetness and crunch along with the tart bite of lime offset by the creamy avocados. I think that if I made this again, I might add a good pinch of red pepper flakes or even chopped chipotle peppers. It's a great salad but might also make a great quesadilla topper or taco filling. If I had regular access to great (and affordable) corn, this salad would definitely become part of my regular lineup.