Ok – I get on a jag, and there it is.  Got tangled up in a tangled mess of yarn, which distracted me from my weaving, so I concentrated on food instead!

First, my husband and I went out in search for a few furniture items.  We didn’t find them all, but came back with two good finds.  On the way home I spied a Restaurant Depot store, so we stopped to see if they had any bistro tables.  The answer was no, but they did have about every tool and accessory plus tons of foodstuffs, meat, bread and veggies that topped the walls to the ceilings.  We trained in on a huge bag of kale, and for $2 made away like bandits.  I know, it’s kind of sick that that sort of thing excites me, but it does.  So now, what to do with the kale?????  Kale salad!  It’s hot and anything that will save me from the oven…….

It’s no small coincidence that a high proportion of socializing centers around food.  And last Tuesday I had met up with some fiber friends at True Food restaurant in Scottsdale Quarter (I swear I don’t eat at “high end” places all the time – most of my meals are at home or at fun diner-type joints).   Kale must be the next big thing, because it is all over the place.  True Food serves a really good shot at it with their Tuscan Kale Salad– and even has the recipe available online, for those who want to try it at home.  I think that the parmesan and bread crumbs really make this dish – the garlic and red pepper add a nice little side kick, but not too much to overpower the dish.  I added lemon rind as well, because I couldn’t bear not using that fresh rind.

That said, I am glad that the salad tasted as good at home as it did in the restaurant.  I can’t stand it when the food is a disappointment at home.  There usually is some secret ingredient or way of mixing that gets lost in the translation.  But not here!  Another point is that sometimes the food just tastes great because you are with friends, enjoying the moment, and the atmosphere just makes it all come together.  The only complaint I had with True Food is that the main room is pretty noisy when it is filled up.  One of our party eats there pretty regularly, and she warned that it is busy all the time.  The day we went it was 106 degrees and people sat on the outdoor patio (there were misters, and it was in the shade).  We had waited on the patio, and I have to admit that if I had the choice  I would have waited longer for an outdoor seat.  But we had already waited a half hour, and everyone was hungry.

There are also some fabulous drinks on the menu – Apple Carrot Ginger is the one I had (non-alcoholic) and it was very good.  Not too sweet, not too tart, and quenched the thirst. I split the curry chicken sandwich, which came with two sides – the kale salad and sweet potatoes.  Yum, yum.  And I splurged on the calories and split the strawberry-rhubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream.  It was oven-hot and disappeared in a flash.  Triple yum.

Of course I still have a ton of kale left (there has to be about 5 pounds in the bag – I used 6 cups and it didn’t make a dent).  So I think I will be making lentil and kale soup as soon as the heat wave breaks and freeze a bit.

Eating healthy at last……