pebbles by the shore
Bit by bit, stone by stone, shocks of colour against a pallid palette, I've been compiling salads for what seems like eons. I've always had the appetite of a rabbit, albeit a voracious feisty long eared one, or a wood nymph: long on foraging, short on flesh and bone. I don't like little tastes of fat as flirtations of flavour. I've always preferred raw goodness in bountiful amounts seasoned with a ton of pow pow pow. I have so many more salads to create. I'm still somewhat stuck in late fall mid winter early spring which means: kale, fennel, chicories, root vegetables, and storage fruits like apples are making the rounds, again and again. So rather than end at 50 I'm extending until 101. So today's salad isn't the end it's the reincarnation point, the hallmark of next steps, the crown of new discoveries.
Meanwhile, all eyes are pinned on spring.
I struggle through the winter. I love the fresh snow but it's fleeting. I love living by the lake and seeing the palest January hues of purple and blue. But I find the season in general a lot of work. It's freezing rain and then blowing north winds and then easterlies are piercing your eyes and you pinch a nerve in your shoulder from holding them up so tight and you live in your Sorels and homemde knitted socks and wood sweaters and let yourself basically go to the dogs if they lived at a fishing lodge in the north country. I'm eating well but my hygiene is suspect.
Here's a quick and dirty lunch. Slice OR match stick half of a Fuji apple. Sice OR match stick half of a kohlrabi bulb (likely in practice with the first ingredient). Shave a quarter of a fennel bulb on a box grater. Add everything to your lunch bowl and squeeze half a lemon over top. Season with coarse salt. Cut up a good bunch worth of fresh dill. Chop it into coarse bits. Toss with the other ingredients. Take a handful of washed lacinato kale leaves and ribbon them by laying them flat and cutting them horizontally into 1 inch pieces. Add to the bowl and toss with olive oil. Add some goat feta and sprinkle a few chili pepper flakes and toss again. Eat. So good.
