Recipe 1: Vinaigrette

Officially I know how to do to this, but lo and behold I've been making it with balsamic vinegar, and Alice says use red wine vinegar. Weirdly enough, the Ralphs near LAX was packed with people at 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The most intriguing part of page 44 was that Alice was totally right when she said that salt cuts the acidity of the vinegar. Also, whoa, you can watch salt dissolve. I knew that, but still.

I used the brand-new superfancy extra-virgin olive oil that Bryan gave us for Christmas, and it tastes so green, like grass as much as olives. I needed a little more vinegar and more salt to balance that flavor (I was going to say fight that flavor, but that seems unduly combative), and now I have vinaigrette.

I shall declare this a success because at the very least I am now eating a vinaigrette-laced mixed green salad with walnuts, and greens are something the baby does not get enough of. I'll be enjoying it with a side of the vinegar entry in Food Lover's Companion (baslamic vs. red wine: what's the diff?) and the blessedly just arrived latest issue of Organic Gardening, now in new larger format.

Tomorrow, salsa verde.