By Any Other Name Salad

"Maybe you could put some good recipes for sorrel soup or something on your blog", my CSA farmer said, while gesturing her head toward the boxes of produce stacked inside the farm's shabby green van. She and her partner spend hours each week generating hand written notes explaining the vegetables inside the share, and updating their customers about the growing season. It is for this reason that I assumed that they didn't possess a computer, and so I decided to forgive the fact that, despite my constant reminders, this woman still had no idea what type of blog I have.

It's not that I would expect a stranger to remember me and associate me with my blog, but I did I assumed they would be at least somewhat interested, considering their CSA is called "salad days" and they specialize in growing only salad ingredients.

"People keep asking us what to do with this stuff, I hope you can show them something", she added.
"Sorrel is my favorite" I said, gazing starry eyed into the bag. At least she had remembered that one of the purposes of my blog is to inspire people to use produce that they might not otherwise use.

"Is Nathan coming today?" she asked.
"Actually, his name is Noah" I said, correcting her on one of my friends names, and feeling a little bit better that her forgetfulness of minor important details is not personal, but global.

Actually, I can relate to this kind of awkward encounter that plagues the person with no mind for details. I am pretty sure that I horrified an old friend this morning when, in running into her after 15 months of not seeing her since she had her twins, I gaped at them in amazement, commenting on how surprised I was at how different they appeared.
"That is because they are completely different, just born at the same time" she said, shooting me a worried look. "Right..they are not identical. But which one is which?" I asked, feeling that I might redeem myself by showing additional interest.
"Annie is the girl and Ben is the boy" She said, slightly irritated. I comforted myself by thinking, that in this age of gender fluidity, you really can't assume anything. 'In fact' I thought to myself 'it was a pretty progressive of me to ask. Why should I assume that the bigger baby with the baseball onesy was a boy, girls are growing up faster these days..and isn't it a little passe to assume that boy babies wouldn't be dressed in pink frills with little bows?'

While I was busy congratulating myself, their was a noticeable silence in the conversation, and I decided that the only thing left to do was to cut my losses and run before causing any further damage. Boy, girl, Nathan, Noah, salad, soup.. what difference does it make anyway?

By Any Other Name Salad
4 small-medium sweet carrots, sliced
3 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
3 tomatoes (heirloom), sliced
1/2 cup sorrel, chopped
1/8 cup mint leaves, chopped
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Christina's vote: "This salad made me quite sure that life is what you make it"