Of Salad Days and Blog Birthdays

This past week, One Hot Stove turned 7 years ago. You'll agree that seven years is a ripe old age in Internet years. Now as to whether old qualifies as experienced or decrepit- that's for you to decide, gentle reader. Seven years after timidly starting this blog, I am in awe of (a) the power of words and (b) the power of community.

And by community, I mean YOU- so here's a tight virtual hug for ya (( )).

Speaking of community, there's a worthy blog event going on right this minute. Siri of Cooking with Siri, along with her family, often visits the Vaidehi Ashram, a refuge for little girls in Hyderabad in Southern India. Can you even imagine being a small child left all alone in the world? I sure cannot. The mere thought of a little girl (a little girl just like my daughter) being left to fend for herself on this harsh planet brings angry tears to my eyes. And makes me grateful for places like Vaidehi Ashram that provide a home and a family and an education to girl children who started life with such a disadvantage. Siri has written two posts talking about her visits to the Ashram and is hosting a fundraiser to raise money for food, clothing and schooling for the little girls. Get all details about the fundraiser/raffle by clicking here.

One Hot Stove is sponsoring one of the raffle prizes: An Ice Cream Package consisting of the Cuisinart ICE-21 Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker PLUS a copy of the book Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer. The ice cream maker is a new and improved version of the one I bought for myself a couple of summers ago. I've enjoyed using it week after week, especially in Spring and Summer, often using the very simplest of recipes (mix the ingredients and pour into the machine) to make tender coconut ice cream, kesar pista ice cream and strawberry ice cream. In fact, my baby shower was an ice cream social. The book is one that I borrowed from the library and renewed as many times as they would let me. The recipes in this book are eggless and Jeni's ice cream is close to the texture of kulfi. I chose this raffle prize knowing that I love both these products and I hope you'll buy a ticket and put your name in the hat for this prize!

If ice cream is not your thing, there are loads of other prizes, from kitchen tools like knives and kettles to cookbooks to gadgets like e-readers. Read Siri's post for all the details. We often worry about giving money to organizations where we are not sure of whether the money will actually do any good. I feel very good about giving to Vaidehi Ashram because of Siri's visits and her description of how the place is run. The money will be used for the kids and not on advertising or overhead expenses. You have until February 25th to participate in this fund-raiser and share a bit of your good fortune with a child in Hyderabad.

On to the recipe. I wanted to bake something sweet and lovely to celebrate the blog birthday. In the end, I decided to spend my precious weekend moments cuddling with Lila and I ended up making an antipasto salad. The salad was an accompaniment to the pizza that friends brought over when they came to watch the Super Bowl. It was so tasty and colorful that I instantly deemed it blog-worthy.

The inspiration came from this drop-dead gorgeous antipasto platter. It induced serious salad cravings for me. My antipasto platter was a simple one, with bagged baby spinach, goodies from the olive bar at Whole Foods (olives, marinated mushrooms, artichokes, roasted red peppers) and giardiniera, which are Italian pickles consisting of cauliflower, celery and carrots in a vinegary brine (I happened to have a bottle in the fridge- an impulse buy from many moons ago). We added some very fresh mild mozzarella and a few shavings of parmesan, along with a shower of freshly ground pepper.

I served Meyer lemon dressing on the side. I've heard so much about Meyer lemons in food blog land but tasted them for the first time when I found them being sold in Trader Joe's. I have to say, I can see what the hype is about- this lemon has a remarkable taste, very aromatic and lemony without the harshness. For the dressing, I simply whisked together Meyer lemon juice, mayonnaise, honey mustard and some coarse salt.

I can see myself putting together such a platter for many gatherings in the future. And I'll be making my own marinated mushrooms and giardiniera to make it more cost effective. Slices of bell pepper and red onion would be perfect additions to this platter.

I'll be back to continue year eight on One Hot Stove. I'm still finding my voice, still learning to express myself, still just a novice in the kitchen and I hope you'll stay with me as we cook our way through life.