After a long and careful study of what makes a good salad, I have decided upon three key components, in addition to your standard greens and veggies:

1. Something sweet (like dried cranberries, raisins, pomegranate seeds, chopped apples, etc.)
2. Something crunchy (like croutons, crushed pita chips, tortilla chips, nuts, etc.)
3. Cheese (depending on the salad, goat cheese, feta, and parmesan are all good choices)

Of course you must use these things in moderation to avoid overdoing it and adding too much fat/calories/etc to a dish that, essentially, is supposed to be a healthy addition to your meal.

More on salad dressing after the jump.

This week was another shot at a "Fall Harvest" menu. Unfortunately, a lot of our dishes just didn't turn out that great. We continue to struggle to find recipes for pumpkins that don't involve pies or ravioli (which we've already done).

Sunday - Roast Chicken with Roast Pumpkin

Monday - Buffalo Steak with Brussel Sprouts

Tuesday - Big Salad with Pumpkin French Fries

Wednesday - Steelhead Salmon (trout) with Lemon/Butter/Rosemary Sauce, with Kale and Brussel Sprouts

Thursday - Pumpkin Ravioli with Broccoli and Green Salad

Friday - Out to celebrate Jon's last day at YSA!

Plan for this week was a bit haphazard, but here goes:

Sunday - [[http://audreyandjon.com/blog/20091025/another-great-community-event-pc-market|Potluck Pig Roast at P&C Market]]

Monday - Chili (made on Sunday by Jon) + cole slaw

Tuesday - Big Salad + Baked Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday - EBLfgT (aka Egg, Bacon, Lettuce, and fried green Tomato) sandwiches + cole slaw

Thursday - Gnocci with Tomato Cream sauce

Friday - Jake's B-day celebration in the 'hood

Last night we participated in the 5th annual Capitol Hill [[http://aliteraryfeast.org/|Literary Feast]]. We prioritized four books/cuisines and were delighted to be assigned to the Unaccustomed Earth dinner. The book is a collection of short stores, all about first generation Bengali-Americans and their struggles to blend their parents' Indian heritage with their American upbringing. Its an outstanding book, especially for anyone whose family has recently emigrated to America (from anywhere, not just India).

This week fall arrived in full force in DC (actually, temperatures more like winter, but the first taste of cold anyhow...). We wanted to take advantage of the fall bounty suddenly available at Eastern Market, and so we spent most of our day preparing a tasty Italian-inspired fall harvest dinner (yes we began at 10 am by roasting said harvest vegetables...).