When I have a bad day

I was planning to post a blog tonight on baked, stuffed fruit. In my opinion, even if you don't make desserts generally, you should know how to make these. They're easy, and they're good. But it will have to wait.

Today was not my finest moment. It would take way too long to go into details. In brief, I was helping a friend with some issues that I have experience with. I did get frustrated along the way, but apart from that, I let myself fall into a fantasy that I thought was mine alone. It was not. And I got taken down, real fast, real hard. This is a repeating pattern. I work on it, but it's with me, like so many other things. And anyone who gets taken down from his or her fantasy is going to hurt. And I did. And I spent a good ten minutes in the kitchen, after a phone call with my friend, crying my eyes out. But it's Thanksgiving eve, and while I still hurt, I had to move on. People are coming to Thanksgiving Dinner (including my friend), and I needed to get things under control and get things moving.

And I did and they did. Dishes worked and they worked faster than I thought they would. I improvised on one dish that failed, and turned out a dish that is more than not bad. It's good (and I'll post it in days to come). But what turned me around, more than anything else, was doing what I like doing more than anything else: looking at what I have, what I don't have, and making something of it. Here it comes.

In shopping during the week, I did not buy enough salad lettuce. I knew it, and there was no way that I was going to deal with the hordes today, buying lettuce. So, since I want a salad at dinner tomorrow, it was going to have to be a so -called "compound" salad. Looking at what I had around, I had - you guessed it - my favorite golden beets. A box of citrus had arrived from Kim, Eric and Sandra, including some gorgeous persimmons, and a lovely treasure, some "mandarinquats," a small, pear shaped hybrid of a mandarin and a kumquat, which pack explosive flavor. Also pomegranates, one of those things that make these awful dark, dank fall/winter days worthwhile. And I had some red grapefruit too. And from this, a salad was made. And it was GOOD. And we'll have it tomorrow at dinner.

Read "EAT YOUR BEETS" on how to roast and peel golden beets. I cut them in half and squeezed some mandarinquat juice over them, but you could, of course, use any citrus you like. I seeded a pomegranate, and peeled and sliced a grapefruit, like in Christa salad, also below. Finally, the persimmons. Now, you have to be careful with these gems, that are only around for a short time. Certain varieties, when unripe, will pucker your mouth and coat it with nasty tannins in a way nothing else could. When soft and ripe, though, a persimmon is like nothing you've ever tasted. I had some ripe ones, which I cut into small wedges. Then, I took my heads of baby lettuce (from Nivea, of course), and I was in business. A dressing of champagne vinegar, salt, and olive oil, plus the juice that spilled out of the grapefruit when I was cutting it. I tossed the lettuce leaves in that dressing and then added everything else, m ixed together , on top of it. I had a beautiful salad of red and golds, with a little green of the salad greens, which tasted fantastic.

We will be eating that salad tomorrow, near the end of our Thanksgiving Dinner, just as the sun is setting. I'm going to make sure it's in a clear glass bowl. And even if no one else gets it, I will (although I have a feeling that Matthew the squash king will).

I will be ok. The baked fruit will be up soon. Happy Thanksgiving to all.