When Life Gives You Lemons... Make Vinaigrette

Soooo Good!

When it comes to salad dressings, I have come to learn that making your own is so much easier and so much better than using store bought dressings. As a kid, my mom's only salad dressing choice was the Season's Italian Vinaigrette mix that you buy in a packet and mix with oil and vinegar. We never had any creamy dressings or mustard-based vinaigrettes because she is basically the world's staunchest advocate for the abolishment of mayo and mustard. While I am not a huge fan of either, I will use them in recipes.

Anyway, after college, when I began cooking for myself I became a HUGE fan of Ina Garten's (the Barefoot Contessa) recipes. One of my absolute favorites is for an arugula salad with a lemon vinaigrette. It is so simple that anyone can make it and it is so elegant and delicious that it will impress your family and friends every time. Also, its mom approved :)

You will need:

1 Lemon
Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea or Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
1 Container of Arugula
Shaved Parmesano-Reggiano  (optional)

Prepare the salad right before you are going to eat. For 3-4 people I usually only have to use the juice of half a lemon. Squeeze the juice directly into a bowl making sure to eliminate the seeds. Throw in a pinch of salt and a healthy portion of pepper, depending on your taste. Then whisk in a small, steady stream of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Using a whisk is very important in order to get the correct emulsification. Once the mixture begins to look cloudy, almost creamy, taste it to see if it is to your liking. You can adjust any component of the dressing at this point, just keep whisking and tasting until it seems yummy to you. Then add your arugula and mix it all up. The arugula will absorb the dressing quickly, so just add more arugula if you find it necessary. Add Parmesan shavings if desired and enjoy!

Make new friends, but keep the old...

New Friends, Old Friends, Good Friends

Happy New Year to all! As many of us do, I have been doing some thinking and reflection at the close of 2012. For me '12 was a year of thinking, pondering and basically living a good chunk of the year in my head. I'm not sure if I'm better off for all of this thought and internal debate, but I have come to one certain conclusion: I have got some really great friends.

It's not that I didn't know that I had great friends before, but over the past few days the truly awesome nature of my friendships really hit home for me. I spent the last few days of 2012 in good ole' Richmond, VA. For me and my crew, this town is pretty special. Many of us moved there right out of college to began our "adult" lives. Over many nights sharing late night pizza, spending summer afternoons swimming in inflatable swimming pools, and having heart to hearts over bottles of wine we became a family. And that's not hyperbole, I truly mean family.

When I had to leave Richmond in 2008, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Eventually, the "family" began to move on to different corners of the world, but a few remained in RVA. Over the next couple of years, some of my "old friends" who remained in Richmond began to meet "new friends". Other displaced "family" members and I would discuss "new friends" with a bit of skepticism that was really just jealousy. Who were these strangers, anyway? I can say that I felt a little replaced. We were jealous that these people were hanging out with our "old friends" and life was going on at our old haunts without us. But the world keeps on turning and Metro keeps playing "Don't Stop Beleavin'".

As my luck would have it, over the past year or so I have been able to spend a little time in Richmond and meet these "new friends". As it turns out, my Richmond "old friends" have got pretty great taste when it comes to the people with whom they choose to surround themselves (I mean, hey they are friends with me ;)).

It might sound silly, but it turns out that we weren't replaced, you can never be in a good and true friendship. What happened was actually a great thing, because now the "family" has grown and whether the friend is new or old they all seem like pretty good friends to me and I'm looking forward to a happy, healthy, and fabulous 2013 for all of us! I'm so thankful to have all of you in my life.