Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Let's Talk Salads.
(Blackberry Avocado Salad)


by Mary Courtney Blake

It is summertime in the South and what I crave more than anything in our sauna-esque weather are salads.  However, salads can be tricky in their simplicity and I often get caught tripping over the same old savory story.  My mother, on the other hand, has a way with salads.  In college I used to say that my mom could make a salad that you would crave.  So, this week I have taken a cue from my mom to toss up a beautiful and quirky summer salad for you to impress your friends with at your next dinner party.


Ingredients:

1 Pint Fresh Blackberries
1 Ear Corn on the Cob
1 Ripe Avocado
1 Head of Romaine Lettuce
1 Orange
1 Lemon
Approx. 1 Tbsp of Honey
Olive Oil
Salt to Taste


The Salad:

Start off by washing all of your fruits and veggies and peeling your corn on the cob.

Chop your lettuce.  For Romaine I tend to just take the head and cut it perpendicularly across in 3/4 inch sections so that I end up with strips of lettuce 3/4 inch wide by however wide the leaves are.  Take your chopped lettuce and put it in your serving bowl.

Cut the corn kernels off of the cob directly over your lettuce by running a knife down the cob lengthwise (just like your grandma used to do for you when you were tiny).  Uncooked corn adds a delightfully sweet and crunchy surprise to this dish.

Cut your avocado in half and remove the pit.  Now take a knife and cut each half into 1/8 inch thick ribbons.  Place your avocado on your salad.

Top your salad with the blackberries.


The Dressing:

Juice your orange and lemon and put the juice in whatever container you will be using for your dressing.

Add the honey.

Now add probably somewhere from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of olive oil.  Start with a little and go from there because you don't really want an overly oily dressing for this salad.

Salt to taste.  Stir/Shake thoroughly.



Enjoy!  


Sunday, June 13, 2010


Patronage.

by Mary Courtney Blake


This weekend I attended a jazz performance.  The music was very good, but something was off.  It was about three songs into the set before I realized what was missing -- no one was dancing.  Being a patron of the arts is in some ways an uncharted course because it is not always apparent what one is to be or to do in the presence of art, whatever the discipline.  Enchanted or captivated is of course a great start, however, I would like to propose that art cannot become great until it moves you.

You see, you are the completion of art.  You, the patron, are the one that determines whether art is (dare I say) good or bad, successful or unsuccessful.  This is not to say that you must like the art in order for it to be good, but you must consider it and respond to it.  Great art inspires us, it teaches us, it enlightens us.  Some will shock us, some may anger us, and some may cause us to dance... but whatever it is, great art changes us.

So next time that you find yourself a patron of the arts, allow yourself to consider and respond, allow it to move you.  Get out of your chair and dance.