Friday, November 11, 2011

Baby salad

All week, I've been feeling as if I'm fighting a germ invasion. I did spend a couple of days with small germ bags last weekend. Today I felt progressively worse as the day went on.

But I had volunteered to provide the salad today as part of the week of meals we've been sending for one of our artists who just had a baby. Of course, I would not make an ordinary salad the night before like a normal person might. Oh no. That would not do.

Another one of our artists had a baby last month (something in the water I guess) and when it was my salad day for her I decided to do an antipasto sort of thing since the main dish was to be lasagna. I filled up a bag with baby-sized peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, pepperoncinis, provolone cheese and thinly sliced salami plus a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette and bagged Italian salad mix.

Today I had no idea what I was gonna do to go with the chicken pot pie someone else was providing as the main dish. But I figured inspiration would strike as I wandered the aisles at the grocery store.

Fresh produce brings me joy. And feeding others brings me joy. For nearly 45 minutes, I meandered through the produce section, collecting baby cucumbers again (who can resist their crunchy cuteness?), blackberries - on special today 2 for $1 - sugar snap peas, Babybel cheeses and baby Romaine lettuce. I snagged a bag of salad "accents" (toasted almonds and other crunchy bits with some sort of Asian seasoning). I scanned the refrigerated dressings and the selection several aisles over. None of those bottled dressings seemed quite right so I picked up my favorite rice vinegar and then wheeled to the baking aisle (why no olive oil near the vinegars? makes no sense to me) for a small bottle of olive oil with perky packaging (on special!). It all went in the bag with suggestions for assembly.

I hope the new parents enjoy the veggies. And with some good cold medicine and lots of fluids and rest this weekend, I'm looking forward to a full recovery so I can enjoy squeezing a baby soon. Maybe next week!

-- A. Choo

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