Compost salads never get old

A note re: compost salads. It occurred to me that newer readers might not understand this oddly entitled dish. Here is my original post regarding these salads that I love: "You might find ‘compost salad’ an unfortunate moniker for one of my favorite lunches, but for some reason, I like it. It’s sort of the perfect descriptor. Here’s what you do:

Take:  whatever kind of lettuce/greens you have (I like mesclun, herbs, endive and radicchio) and everything else you have that you like; toss together in a bowl with dressing; put on a plate.

Today, for example, I used mesclun, herbs, romaine (I find the crunchiness of the stems very pleasing), a tomato, the two remaining potatoes from the potato salad, the remaining roasted veggies from a few days back, the extremely small part of the avocado that Oliver didn’t want, leftover celery root-apple salad…you get the drift and why I call this compost salad.

Now, I must say that I feel strongly that you make your OWN salad dressing. A simple vinaigrette is NOT hard and is infinitely better and better for you than store bought. I like a nice crunchy cracker on the side, like Finn Crisps which are 100% rye so a nice earthy flavor.

Buon appetito!"

Kale-quinoa pilaf a'coming, beautiful day, full afternoon ahead

Mmm...do y'all groove on quinoa (pron: keen-wah)? I LOVE it. I love that it is packed with nutrients, love that each little quinoa likes like a miniature Saturn when cooked, love that it goes with so many things providing a nice foundation but not a meek one. It's easy to cook, easy to love, so don't be intimidated. Tonight we are going to enjoy a one-pot kale and quinoa pilaf. Goat cheese, pine nuts, walnut oil, my beloved lacinato kale and quinoa. I've been wanting to try this recipe for quite some time as it was a gold cup winner on food52 and foodie friend C made it this week and said it was superb. For dinner it will be! It is an absolutely gorgeous day today and quite cool. I tried to switch O out of his shorts and into pants for school, but he wouldn't have it: "I like cold things, mom." Okee-doke.

I've got lots to do this afternoon but am looking forward to solo-marketing, my pedi, coffee-buying and such.

"Don't listen to me, listen to yourselves."

Gloria Steinem is such an incredible woman- what an inspiration. I've always loved her, but T and I just watched a documentary about her -HBO's "Gloria, In Her Own Words"- and wow! T is completely on board with her, and I am more moved than ever. I love that she is strong but also owns her beauty and sexuality; I love that she entered the women's lib movement organically but felt called to participate in and shape it ever-increasingly; she's giving and selfless but simultaneously strong and self-honest; she never suggests that women be anyone but who they are BUT also demands that we demand respect for just those attributes. I intend to write my first Em-i-lis Essay in tribute to GS but need to get my thoughts in order first. Suffice it to say that I feel that for so many of us women, her path is ours, her struggles towards self-actualization our own, her weaknesses and strengths ones we all share, her regrets those we might have made or make. And those things are what make us real, what make us sentient beings, women of depth, with much to offer and the confidence to realize that always we also can learn and receive much. Compromise, reflection and change are, in their most sincere forms, not flaws but opportunities, not flip-floppiness but honesty. And to demand equal acknowledgement and treatment of those characteristics is just.