Reliving my salad days

"My salad days / When I was green in judgment: cold in blood..."
-Cleopatra （Antony and Cleopatra, Act 1, Scene V）

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According to Merry and Websty, the origin of the word 'salad' can be traced back to the Latin 'sal', which means salt.  The earliest salads were seasoned with-- you guessed it-- salt.

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My two Salad Rules are:
1. At least three colors are present.
2. One of those colors should be green.

Then I try to apply the five-taste-rule in Korean cooking: bitter, salty, sweet, sour, and hot tastes should all be present in a dish to make it balanced.

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"Eat cress and gain wit." (Greek proverb)

Last Day 18

Mango coated with chili soybean paste + carrot + nori + peanuts

Last Day 19

The recipe for Cyma's Roka Salata (Greek rocket salad) can be found here.

Loco for Mexican Taco (Salad)

DAY 3

I didn't feel like making my own dinner so I treated my pets (dog and human) to a late night out on Maginhawa Street.

For Tobi, walking is enough of a treat, so we braced our ears for the territorial barking of the poor caged dogs along the street while the little one absolutely enjoyed every second of its leashed freedom.  I treated C to a super burrito at my favorite place on the resto strip, Mexican Express, while I got a colorful taco salad* for myself.

Did you know that UNESCO has added traditional Mexican cuisine to its list of the world's intangible cultural heritages?  There's a TV show I always catch on Sundays that features Mexican food and because of it, I have added Mexico to my own list of must-visit countries. 
 

The Mexicans know how to salsa.

*Taco salad is a Mexican-inspired dish invented by Americans.  It's not a traditional Mexican dish.

Wicked salad take-out

DAY 9

I joined my officemates at Wicked Kitchen on Katipunan for an early dinner this afternoon.  They're watching the 7:30 p.m. Varekai by Cirque du Soleil show at the Quirino Grandstand so we were already at the restaurant at 4:30.  I watched the show three weeks ago with boyps, so I was just basically there to finish their buffalo wings.

I wasn't hungry yet so I ordered the "Wicked Garden Salad" to go.  This way I can escape from kitchen duties tonight!

The menu said it had mesclun.  What the heck is that?  The waitress didn't know either.  She shouted over to the manager who went to our table and explained that it's a mix of different kinds of lettuce.  Good to know!

Aside from lettuce, the salad had tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onions, and walnuts.  Balsamic vinaigrette is the dressing.

I couldn't figure out why they called it "wicked" until I finished eating the salad.  Onion breath.  One word:  Wicked.

Tossed salad is effortlessly sexy.

I cheated with Johnny...

DAY 5

...but still ate my vegetable!

What I meant was, I didn't have to chop or blanch or slice anything for tonight's meal because officemate gave me her Johnny Rockets doggy bag which contained a bit of salad and a couple of onion rings.  Which also meant I didn't have to wash any dishes after dinner.  You rock, Johnny!

Thank god it's Free-day.