What a great time of year this is for local produce! We've got the last of the cool weather crops coming in, like salad greens and carrots, PLUS warm weather things like squash and cukes. Then there are precious early summer blueberries... and you can still buy shelled pecans! I added the tender ends of the ever-present smilax vine growing outside the kitchen door. I have to say I have a whole different attitude toward that thing now that I consider it a vegetable instead of a noxious, child-snaring, clothes-ripping WEED. It still grows like a weed, but now it's stubborness and waving tendrils seem kind of touching, like a little kid trying to get your attention, shouting "Choose me! I'm good!" It's all in the attitude. And, honestly, it tastes like asparagus, which does not grow here.
I dressed my salad with my old standby - equal parts rice vinegar and olive oil, shaken together with a little salt - this time in a nearly-empty strawberry jam jar. Just the right fruity flavor. Perfect.
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