The calendar says Spring. The thermometer says Summer. And the Stomach says Salad.

It’s 83°F outside, right now. That’s 28°C for the rest of the world. It’s still annoying as hell that we didn’t convert to the metric system with everyone else. We sell wine and hard liquor by the liter and beer by the ounce. We sell gas by the gallon, milk by the gallon, and soda by the liter. Miles instead of kilometers, feet instead of meters… The thickness of aluminum foil is measured in millimeters.

Just one more instance why this country is so confused…

But out of that confusion came salads, tonight. Crisp, fruity, tangy salads – with grilled chicken on top.

I really do like salads for dinner – and once the backyard produce starts coming in we will be having them all the time – but for now, it’s whatever looks good at the grocery store. Today was iceberg lettuce – because we like crispy crunchy lettuce – and shredded carrots, blackberries, tomatoes, radishes, and marinated grilled chicken – with a simple red wine vinaigrette. If I had thought of it earlier, I would have hard-cooked a few eggs. I’ll put a batch on later and we’ll have them when we need them – methinks more salads are in our future.

We have a ton of tomato seedlings going – 3 different heirloom varieties and San Marzano seeds brought back from Italy. Victor planted 6 pepper plants this morning that came in the mail from Chili Plants.com. It’s a New Jersey company and we got them in less than 24 hours. Not bad, at all. They also have lots of practice shipping things – so… if you’re in the market for live plants… give ’em a click.

There’s also 2 types of beets out there, along with leeks, lettuce, and green beans  – and eggplant and other stuff I can’t remember right now, in the seed-starters. It’s looking to be a plentiful season…

So here’s to Spring in all it’s overheated glory. At least it’s not muggy.