Salad Days

There are days when even I, not a huge fan of salads, find myself dreaming of a big, crunchy, crisp green one - mostly on those incredibly hot days that strike us occasionally. I think of them as the Salad Days.

The Bay area has its own natural air conditioning, a well-behaved fog bank that hovers over the cold water offshore most days and whistles inland most evenings. Mainly, this happens like clockwork and keeps our summer temperatures down into the 70s or low 80s. Every now and then, however, when the high pressure system is inland rather than parked over the ocean, we get wind from the valley and it gets HOT. One such day happened last week - by dinner time, the thermometer in the house read 92. Luckily, that temperature coincided with a nice chunk of leftover grilled Kobe-style steak from the night before. As the temperature rose, the idea of salad was sounding better and better.

Nothing exotic here, really, but each ingredient was lovely of its kind - the crunch of raw broccoli, the softness of fresh red lettuce, the snap of peeled carrots, the squish of fresh tomato mixed with some quartered mushrooms, de-stringed celery slices and fingerling potatoes and drizzled with a little balsamic vinaigrette. A few ripe strawberries and some slices of cold steak. Even a bit of avocado to add richness to the plate. No cooking, just chopping. Less effort expended and no heat needed.

Salads like this - ones with plenty of crunch and flavor - are the perfect hot day dinner, just made for the Salad Days.