Click Click Crunch Salad

click click click crunch crunch click click, crunch click click...

We sit back to back, facing opposing walls, a little multicolored plate of fresh raw vegetables resting on the corner of our matching black desks. My monitor reflects stick drawings of chemicals, which trick me into believing I can understand chemistry in two dimensions. I imagine molecules fitting together, held there by an invisible attraction which is both connected and separate, strong and strained. Christina watches her screen as pieces of computer hardware float back and forth hooking into place by giant fingers of unknown origin. Crunch crunch, we are both leaned forward, searching, seeking, wanting to understand. We drift into our imaginary worlds where everything works like a puzzle, every problem has a solution.

From the picture of anthocyanins on my screen, I look to the purple cabbage on my plate. In between the water and the sugars of this vegetable there are tiny little molecules of anthocyanins, hooked together in a larger network of molecules. Like a giant crochet net they sit and wait for me to chew them down and digest them with acid, and break them apart into thousands of individual geometric shapes which fit like keys into my body, locking and unlocking my genetic potential.. no, wait, they are not really shapes, they are forces of energy, pictured as shapes. At the very core, there is...
nothing.
air.
space. the material that this cabbage is made of is
...energy.
I sit back in my chair, and try to jump back into the world I have made myself believe in which is two dimensional and can be easily understood on paper.
crunch crunch crunch

Blue green dressing:
Blend together 1 cup sour cream, 4 oz blue cheese, 1 cup parsley, 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 very small baby red onion (1 Tbsp diced red onion total) 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp mustard and a squeeze of lemon juice. Add some pepper and paprika and other seasonings if you like!

The salad:
Dice 1/4 red cabbage. Add 2 peeled diced carrots, some cucumber (if you have it) 1/4 head broccoli in little bite sized pieces, 1/4 head cauliflower.. my mother has the best way of breaking a head of cauliflower. She lifts it above her head and slams it down on the counter, breaking the pieces away from the core. It is amazing how well this works (it is really fun, too).

Christina's vote: "This salad made me feel pure"