Salad Daze, Reprise

The heroic effort to eat all of the CSA lettuce continues.  Ian helped me to make this salad, some of which he wanted to bring to school for lunch: small white beans, avocado, sun-dried tomato, toasted pine nuts, grated jack cheese (this at Ian's insistence) and a splash of good balsamic vinegar.

 The great thing about salad is that you can throw things together, intentionally, but not thinking about the end result, and have it turn out well.  Flavors that might conflict actually end up complementing each other.  You don't need to worry about proportions.  The ingredients are individuals, but somehow they are also part of a larger whole.  There is no right and wrong.  Sometimes you surprise yourself.

I've been reading Stephen Mitchell's introduction to the Bhagavad Gita and came across this: "The idea that there is a goal ... is wrong.  We are the goal; we are always peace.  To get ride of the idea that we are not peace is all that is required." 
-Ramana Maharshi

While it's a leap to go from philosophy to salad, there is sort of a connection.  Our small lives are so full of conflict, aren't they?  Real or imagined, predetermined or manufactured.   What would happen if we could simply let go of all of that conflict?  Simply accept the end result, and observe and appreciate the flavors as a whole?