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Welcome to The Joy Vey! I’m so happy you’re here. Click around, have a laugh, have a nosh, and have a great day. Looking forward to seeing you around!

Have a Little Faith

I need to start listening to my own advice.

Today, I was tutoring a friend’s daughter in algebra. A smart, confident girl, she got particularly frustrated at one point, letting her pencil fall, heaving a giant sigh, and saying, “It’s just not worth it. I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think I’ll ever do this.”

I picked the pencil up, put it back in her hand, stared straight in her eyes, and said, “Yes, you can. You just need to have a little faith.”

Except in calculus. No amount of faith can save you there. I advise running far, far away.

After a few tries, many eraser marks, and some elbow grease, she was able to work out the exact problem she thought she was incapable of solving. I was so proud of her, but more importantly, she was proud of herself.

Lately, I’ve been finding myself worrying more and more about our friend who has cancer. I find myself oscillating between being very positive, and seeing everything turning out alright, and, well, the opposite of that. I’m an optimist by nature, but sometimes there are certain things you just have to be real about. I’ve yet to decide which this is. I think I need to have a little faith myself.

We got a call from our friend, who let us know that the doctors believed they figured out his cancer had not spread to his other organs (so it’s not stage 4), nor are the cancer cells themselves very mature, so there’s a decent possibility that the stage could be lower. Hopes are high; he goes in for surgery within the next few weeks, where they’ll find out more and hopefully be able to remove some of what’s there. He asked us to keep up with the good thoughts and, coincidentally, faith.

Perhaps that’s my resolution for the year. I never officially set one, and though I don’t particularly feel the need to set one, I don’t see any harm in reminding myself, the same way my student did, that sometimes, all you need is a few tries, many eraser marks, some elbow grease…and a little faith.

I Love This Bar

Confession time: I am a terrible twenty-something.

To the joy of my parents (hi, Mom!), the misery of my partying friends, and the general indifference in my own opinion, I am not by any means a partier. I have been drunk exactly 3 times in my life, been to a true “bar” perhaps twice, and am usually always the designated driver whenever there’s alcohol or drinking on a larger scale. Going out, getting drunk, and relying on random people (who themselves are quite possibly drunk as well) to get me home just does not sound like a fun time.

Now, there is one bar in particular I’ve haunted almost all my life: the salad bar. My favorite restaurant growing up was a place I affectionately and appropriately called “The Salad Bar.” I’m sure the establishment had a different name (sadly, it’s closed now), but that was never important to me. What I fixated on was the massive salad bar, filled with every type of lettuce, salad topping, and dressing imaginable. It probably didn’t hurt that there was a dessert bar as well, with frozen yogurt, nuts, and chocolate in every color of the rainbow.

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.

It was with that memory I set out to create my own salad bar, paying homage to the very thing that draws me, and many others, to the buffet o’ beauty: choice. The very best part about a salad bar is the variety of choices one has to build their very own culinary creation, allowing a simple set-up to please a variety of palettes very easily: vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, kosher, food allergies, etc., etc.

Also good for those who enjoy candlelight

So this may not be a true recipe per se, but it is a step-by-step guide on how to create a really, really good salad bar right at home:

Create Your Own Salad Bar

Step 1: Find your favorite green

By that, I mean lettuce, spinach, mixed greens, etc.  BF and I normally go with spinach because it has a good iron content, mild taste, and we use it a lot in other meals (sandwiches, smoothies, omelets, etc.), so we can justify buying a big ol’ bin of it. Whatever you choose, make sure you like it, because this is the base of your salad.

Step 2: Get a good protein

If you’re planning to eat your salad as a meal, having protein is essential in making sure that it’s a) a balanced meal, and b) one that will keep you fuller longer. There are many great sources to fit a variety of palettes and dietary preferences: beans, tofu, cheeses, lean meats, etc.

Step 3: Add substantial topings

Cute, colorful ramekins are not necessary - but they are encouraged!

These are the toppings that really bulk up a salad, items like veggies (carrots, celery, fresh corn, tomatoes, etc.), fruit (apples, strawberries, pears, etc.), and other items that aren’t just for decoration but substantial flavor and nutritional value.

Step 4: Fix up your fixins’!

Cheese, celery, tomatoes, carrots, pita, hummus, sunflower seeds...

Here’s where you can have some fun and imagination with your salad (and even go with some for decorative purposes). I like thinking of the fixin’s as the icing on your salad: small touches that add special flavors, textures, or colors, but you don’t need a lot to do so. Think of sunflower seeds for crunch, dried fruits for flavor and color, and croutons for a different taste.

 Step 5: Dress up

Now for the true finishing touch: your dressing. I like having a variety on hand so I can make a lot of different types of salads: savory, sweet, simple, complex. My new favorite dressing is a lemon vinaigrette with brown sugar and cinnamon. It sounds odd, but is amazing – a great motivation to try new flavors.

And step 6? Enjoy!

BF and I enjoyed a great salad bar of our own, and cleared out a lot of veggies we had piling up in the fridge.

We even made good use of the leftover purple mashed potatoes!

Filling, delicious, and fun.

Now that’s my kind of bar.

 

Paint With All the Colors of the…Produce Section

As a child, I loved the movie Pocahontas. A strong, brave, beautiful women from a rich culture standing up for peace and Mother Earth? Sign me up. To boot, “Colors of the Wind” is one of the catchiest Disney songs ever written. It was also one that puzzled me the most as a child: how the heck do you paint with wind? And where exactly did those wind colors come from?

I thought of that song the other day when I saw this video from Jamie Oliver of Food Revolution fame:

I love how he speaks of trying new foods in new colors for the fun of it. He likens trying new food to loading songs on an iPod:  we’re always putting new, popular, exciting music on our iPods, why not do the same with our food, and use new, fresh, exciting varieties?

I was really inspired by this, and thought it pure luck when yesterday, BF and I went to the farmer’s market and happened upon these beauties:

The market in general was a smashing success, proof that even in January there can be plenty of fresh, local food to enjoy. A very friendly farmer was more than happy to sell me kale, garlic, squash, leeks, and the crowning jewel, purple potatoes. I was giddy looking at my “colors,” feeling like I could paint the most delicious meal in the world with them.

I refrained from singing "Colors of the Wind," much to BF's relief.

 

Living out my inner child’s dream (who else remembers making – and perhaps eating – “mashed potatoes” out of different colors of Play-doh?), I boiled a pot and mashed my first ever purple potatoes.

In fact, our whole dinner last night was super colorful. It was not only a delicious spread, but a visual feast as well: a mix of purple and green with a dash of red and some brown to temper it out.

In the mix: breaded tofu, fresh kale massaged with a lemon vinaigrette, purple mashed potatoes (of course), and some fresh veggies on the side – cherry tomatoes, carrots, and celery.

The meal, in addition to being colorful, also held three other surprises: it was vegan, it was kosher, and it was healthy. I’m always delighted when this happens. It feels as if all the little pieces of my food mythology move in perfect concert.

Your turn: Have you ever tried a differently colored food? Orange or purple cauliflower, white carrots, or even (my new favorite) purple potatoes? What did you think?