Salad Days

My salad days, when I was green in judgment: cold in blood, to say as I said then!  Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, 1606

That's not the kind of salad days I'm talking about!

I've got one and a half fasting salad recipes for you, both of which I made today.  The first is a carrot salad called "Korean Carrot Salad" by the Russians.  It's a pretty popular Russian salad and definitely more Russian than Korean!  I don't know where it got it's name.  The second is not really a true recipe, but just about how I make pasta salad during Lent.

So, first off here is the "Korean" Carrot Salad:

7 carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped and sauteed
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. ground coriander
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. sugar or honey

Mix up the last seven ingredients (everything except the carrots and onion) to make the dressing (I usually put it in a jar and shake).  Mix together with the shredded carrots and sauteed onion.  Marinate 4-24 hours.

I made a triple batch of this recipe today for lunch after Liturgy tomorrow.  For us to eat at home I made a pasta salad today.  My favorite ingredients to make pasta salad more hardy during Lent are artichokes, avocado, olives, and beans (usually from a can).  Here is the recipe for what I made today:

Pasta Salad

1 lb. pasta (I had fusilli)
1 (1 L) jar artichoke hearts (in oil, I get them at Costco)
2 bell peppers, chopped and sauteed
2 tomatoes, chopped
frozen spinach
1 cup black beans
red wine vinegar (about a half a cup)
herbs de provence
salt and pepper to taste

I mixed everything together including oil from the artichokes.  If I didn't have oil from artichokes, I'd use olive oil or an Italian dressing (and then leave out the vinegar).  I like to add more vegetables and other stuff than pasta.  I know this recipe is nothing ground-breaking, but it is good!

This week, we were in Montreal from Monday to Wednesday.  Andrey was attending a clergy conference at St. Nicholas Cathedral, our diocesan headquarters.  I went so I could go shopping since there are definitely different styles in the stores in Montreal.  I thought I could get something cute for Liza.  But it turned out that I mostly baby-sat for Liza and our friend's one year old son.  The first day I tried to take them both shopping with me.  I had the one year old in a backpack carrier and Liza in the stroller.  We made it to the mall (quite a hike!) and walked around a little.  I gave up after about an hour since there were too many stairs and escalators and it was hard to bring the stroller up or down them while trying to be careful with the baby on my back.  From that trip, I have the Liza picture for this post.  It is a photo of her at the final luncheon of the conference.