Fresh Approach Cooking

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I was down in San Diego recently, trying my level best to zen out.

Why? It is just a nice place to focus on emptying ones mind. (Well, if you don't have a place in Palm Springs that is. But if you do have a place in Palm Springs, well, Hi! My name is Rachael and I want to be your new best friend.)

I was there for a few days to relax, enjoy and focus on finding my own personal Bodhi tree, as it were. But try as I might to focus on getting my mind to release, what I just kept finding myself wondering was if the real key to happiness is being a former member of (late 90's boy band) N'Sync.

I mean, of the two former members of said band that I can actually name/think of/picture, they both seem to be living quite large (in the parlance of our times) these days, right? Right. And the one that I somehow ended up having dinner with, well, bless his heart, he seems like a real swell kid, and living large only begins to describe this young gentlemans liifestyle.

We were a large group, and I certainly was the only person there who was a friend of a friend of a friend of the bartenders next door neighbors best friends hairdresser, but none the less, there I was, basking in the oddly B-list glory of it all. (And yes, I am throwing out this story because I jokingly mentioned another "celebrity" in my last post. Just keeping up with the theme you see. The theme.)

But the best part of meeting a boy who I really had no clue about, (minus distracting me from my Buddhist-ish mission) was hearing some strange tales of his fan encounters. Stories involving things like ladies undergarments, large stuffed animals and food. Lots and lots of food. Eating it, being given it, shopping for it, and most importantly (to this rambling post), having it thrown at you.

Now, I am not one to take another persons story and make it my own (and let's face it, I could hardly pass off a 26 year old boys encounter with a tweenaged girl in a supermarket somewhere in central Florida as my own, try as I might) but I will say that should you ever find yourself face to face with your teenaged dream boy, lobbing produce at him is not the way to go. Nope. Under no circumstances should you find a root veg and toss it his way.

On the other hand, you can invite him over for luncheon and offer up said root veg in a delicious and media-body-conscious medley such as this. It will knock his socks off. Much as the beets in his story did...but that is for him to tell some other time.

For now, try this and enjoy!

2 avocados, sliced thin
2 large tuna steaks, diced
2 large beets, roasted, cooled and diced
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
1/2 red onion, minced fine
2 Tablespoons highest quality olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 anchovy, mashed (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, combine the onion, olive oil, vinegar, mustard and anchovy. Season to taste. Divide into two bowls. In the first bowl, toss in the beets and let marinate while you compose the dish. In the second bowl, do the same with the tuna and cucumbers.

Lay down a layer of the avocado on four chilled salad plates. Top with some of the tuna and then the beets. The beets are going to stain everything red, so don't stir them around too much. Drizzle with any remaining dressing, season with pepper and serve.

Serves four.

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Buttery Goodness Now America's Top Domestic Product. New data from the U.S. Commerce Department show that rich, buttery goodness beat out automobiles, timber, and crispety-crunchitiness as the country's most valuable commodity in fiscal year 2006. "Soaring demand among consumers for the melt- in-your-mouth sensation of buttery goodness, combined with increasing production efficiency, meant that more then 32 million tons were manufactured and consumed last year," said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who noted that sales of chewy, double-stuffed deliciousness stagnated in this same period due to inflation and regional shortages of cream filling. Domestic orders for farm machinery, icy-cool mint, and computer components also fell last year. - The Onion.com

N'Sync did a commercial for McDonalds in 1999.

And yes, name dropping is tacky, bad form, and all that. But in this case, I plead guilty for the sake of comedy. Thank you.

Labels: Gluten Free, Luncheon, Salad, Seafood