3 Speeches Salad

Every time I give a public speech I find myself giving three. There is the one before the speech, the preparation. Hours are spent going through life from a little podium inside my head where my voice booms and the people throw flowers and I am carried around a room in a chair, a hero. Then there is the real speech, the one where I stumble a bit over my words, and say um a few too many times, but for the most part I am well spoken and nobody throws tomatoes. Then there is the dreaded after speech, the one where I go over every detail of what was said in the second speech and think of all that I didn't say or could have said better. 

I am amazed that a single olive made it into this salad. I stood in the kitchen, blue tooth on one ear like some next generation star-treck character, and listened to Rosemary talk while mindlessly picking olives off of my knife and cutting board. Rosemary, having been a radio personality in a previous career, was giving me the details of my story in preparation for my radio interview this afternoon. When I called her so that I might open my mouth to allow some of the butterflies to escape my nervous belly, she rose to the occasion of embodying all the enthusiasm I felt but was too nervous to express. I was relieved to just listen to her while I popped sweet olive slices off of my knife and into my mouth with the speed of a chimpanzee picking ants off of a log. 

The story of how I am going to be on the radio today goes something like this. I met a woman at a gallery opening. She was a photographer, and a fantastic networker. Soaring with the energy and enthusiasm of those early days of salad blogging, I found myself speaking these words to her: "I am a writer". Had I thought about it for too long, I probably would not have been so bold. I could have introduced myself in so many other ways. It happened before there was time for self doubt. I gave her my card and the address of my blog. Then I made her a salad. 

My brother told me when I was still 15 years old that if you want to be an artist, you start by calling yourself one. He told me not to wait for others to label me as such. He was only a year older than me but he was a local hero in the music scene at the time, and every Saturday I watched him take center stage with his saxophone and microphone and make a crowd go wild. His words were powerful.  

So today I wait for the phone call from the local radio station and my 10 minutes of fame, while sweet vinegar of olives bathes my tongue, reminding me to stay present.  

The dressing: 

In a Cuisinart or mini blender mix:

6 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

4 green onions

a large handful of basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp honey

The Salad

Rinse and slice into bite sized pieces 1 large head of spinach. Add 1-2 cups medium tomatoes sliced and sliced olives. Crumble feta cheese on top. 

Christina's vote: "I snuck into the kitchen when I was done with the salad and spooned the remaining dressing into my mouth like soup"