December 13th, 2008 posted by Bender Rodríguez
I made a salad today, twice. The first one was the same as the second, the latter of which replaced the former after I inadvertently knocked it off the island as I bent down to pick two mandarin oranges from the bowl in the refrigerator. I had spent about 30 minutes preparing the master piece, mixing the arucola and French leaf lettuce, cutting the vine ripe tomatoes, slicing the Figueres onions, and distributing both equally across the bed of greens. After sprinkling on sunflower seeds and sun dried raisons, I mixed up an olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette with a touch of honey and an abundance of dried garlic, which I then slowly poured onto the surface in a spiral motion from outside in.
Then I had to do it again. I was furious with myself. How much time had I just wasted? How much food? I thought for a moment that I could have scooped it up off the floor and made do. I was hungry. The cleanliness of the floor did not deter me, but the broken white shards of ceramic strewn about the green pile, however, did do so. As usual with these types of stupid mistakes, I like to think that the act of contrition of having to recreate my masterpiece would serve to remind me that I need to slow down and concentrate on the moment at hand. I took solace in that thought, at least, as I started over again after cleaning up the mess.
I enjoyed the salad, and soon forgot about the entire affair, until I took my empty bowl with the two mandarin orange peels to the kitchen. The orange peels had been sitting in the remnants of the vinaigrette. I picked them up to toss them in the compost bin and saw the deliciousness dripping off of the skin. I licked it clean, so as not to drip anything on the floor, and I immediately had one of those, "Your peanut butter's in my chocolate" moments. The tangy orange peel mixed with the bitter, acidic balsamic in such a marvelous way. I cook with oranges when I have fish to fry, but now I think that I have found a new use for the fruit. I have seen others cooking with orange peel, so this is not some revelation on my part. I simply enjoy the act of discovery.
I cannot wait to give it a whirl.
"The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion."
Arthur C. Clarke