The Last Great Form of Creative Freedom

And here I was thinking that there was an undervalued segment of the condiment population. But rest assured, there is an Association for Dressings & Sauces.

I don't know how you achieve membership to such a club, or who gets to be president, but I only know it exists because I was looking for stats about salad.

A sampling of what I found?

• People who eat salads at least once a week consider themselves more trustworthy than those who never eat salads.



• Heavy salad eaters (five or more times a week) are less shy than those who eat salads less often.



• People who eat a salad as your main meal at lunch tend to think they are more intelligent than those who just eat a side salad at lunch.




• Midwesterners choose French dressing.



• Italian is the number one dressing choice, followed by Ranch and then Blue Cheese.



• Only 20 percent buy the prebagged salads.

There was more but it was boring. (Feel free to bore yourself.)


I was at the grocery yesterday with Hawaii Margarette yesterday, who flew in for some good ol' East Coast R'nR and a decent time warp session on Toni Ryan's couch with a monopoly on the flat screen.

Salad was in order for dinner, and a simple, "Want salad for dinner?" morphed into a laundry list of each of our own likes/dislikes about salad. Which was quite eye-opening.

I did not know that Shredded Carrots could be so hated in favor of Julienned Carrots (her).

Or that while generic "parmesan" was unacceptable on all other occasions, it was welcomed atop a bed of greens (her).

And make that Bib Lettuce, please (yes, also her).

Or that all forms of Salad Dressings could be eschewed as long as there was Extra Extra Virgin Olive Oil (me).

The point is, there is no right or wrong on salad. And I love that it will never be a matter that needs to be governed or regulated by a massive group of people who don't know me down in DC.

Frankly, I think salad is one of my favorite ways to clean out the fridge (more about my acceptable salad toppings a in a moment), and also I have a very loose interpretation of a salad. Anything goes. The lettuce? It's just along for the ride.

So here is my version of a decently awesome salad if I had to make it on my own (and since I am not married to this combination, I could change my mind about this in about two seconds)

- Straight up lettuce. Iceberg'll do.

- Chopped up sun-dried tomatoes

- Chopped olives

- Handful of pine nuts

- Scoop full of raisins

- Sprinkle of parmesan

- Couple shakes of olive oil

- A little garlic salt

- A little pepper

- A little dried basil

How about you?