My summer salad kick

Ive been making the same salad, with minor variations, two or three times a week. The recipe is from Sunset, introduced to me by Warren, but I have now made it my own. Here's the original recipe as it appears in Sunset and some variations:
Ingredients
1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
2 navel oranges (or canned mandarin oranges for easier prep.)
About 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (I skipped this step entirely)
4 fresh wonton wrappers, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips (I use chinese noodles instead.)
6 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 cups cubed cooked chicken (or marinated tofu)
Spicy soy-ginger dressing (recipe follows)
1 large avocado, cubed
4 green onions (including green tops), sliced diagonally
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Preparation
1. In a 2- to 3-quart pan over high heat, bring about 1 quart water to a boil. Add asparagus and cook until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, then plunge asparagus into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
2. Cut off and discard ends from oranges. Following the curve of the fruit, cut off peel and outer membrane. Slice oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, then cut these rounds into quarters. Set aside.
3. Pour the vegetable oil into a 3- to 4-quart pan (the oil should be about 1/2 inch deep) and set over medium-high heat. When oil reaches 350°, add wonton strips and fry, stirring, until golden brown on both sides, about 30 seconds total. Lift out with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain. (I didn't do any of this.)
4. In a large serving bowl, toss the cabbage, chicken, and asparagus with the dressing. Top with avocado, orange slices, and wonton strips, then garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.

Spicy soy-ginger dressing. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Asian red chile sauce (such as Sriracha), and 1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger. Slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup vegetable oil or grapeseed oil, whisking constantly. Season with salt to taste.

Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.
Yield
Makes 6 to 8 servings
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Nutritional Information
CALORIES 308(56% from fat); FAT 19g (sat 3.1g); PROTEIN 15g; CHOLESTEROL 36mg; SODIUM 317mg; FIBER 4g; CARBOHYDRATE 20g

Sunset, JUNE 2006

My variations: I have been making it with the Frog/Commissary Cookbook recipe (Christian turned me on to this one) for curry vinaigrette:
1/2 c olive oil2/3 c corn oil6 tbsp lime juice1/4 c cider vinegar1 tblsp salt1 1/2 tsp pepper1/2 tsp nutmeg1 1/2 tsp ground cumin1/2 tsp fresh ginger 1/4 c honey1/4 tsp cayenne1 tsp curry1/2 tsp ground cardamon1 tsp ground coriander2 tblsp minced garlic
yum! I marinated some tofu in this, then fried it up, and used fresh sugar snap peas instead of asparagus. Rice and Spice in Corvallis has some fried crunchy noodles that do not have hydrogenated oil in them; they are gluten-free as an added bonus. Please don't eat or feed your kids hydrogenated oils.

The Update

I havent updated this thing, and who knows? Maybe someone is reading it. At least Nana is checking it out for new videos. Theyre grainy, yes, but thats the digi for you.
Trevor is officially toddling. He walks like a drunken sailor, with his fists held high. Woke up last Saturday morning and decided, I think Ill take a walk around.

Are you wondering what happened to the apostrophes? I have decided that those things are unnecessary and will very soon be archaic, although I think we should keep the possessive usage. But cant you understand this sentence? Dont you understand this one? Lose them in contractions. Im sure with text messaging the language is becoming more and more truncated (as if Ive ever seen an actual text message.) So its not that I cant spell...

We had a great cocktail hour today! We flew in Cousin Catherine as this week's guest bartender. She concocted, with Rosie's help, an amazing batch of sangria. I think someone took a few pictures, and I will try to put some on here once I find the batteries for the digi. There were kids everywhere raiding the raspberries, blueberries, cherries and snap peas!

Yesterday, summer solstice, was the birthday of Emily and Scott's little bundle, and rumor has it they are naming him Miles Robert. He is extremely cute and has the sweetest little outraged cry. Visiting hours at the maternity ward are 11-7, but somehow Todd squeaked in with Gramma Damma's donuts before 8. I guess the nurses open the doors if you bring treats. Miller lost his voice from all the childbirth coaching. Congratulations, Emily, Scott and Miles!

Walking & Climbing

Our backyard hardscaping project is in its final phase (you know, the one that lasts forever) and I realized that maybe it's not the most toddler-friendly. The natural stone pavers do not provide an even surface for rookie walkers, and trips and falls have consequences. Even worse than walking on these rough, gritty rocks is crawling on them--I know, I tried, and the loose sand grinds mercilessly into your knees. I think Trevor, too, came to this conclusion after a shorts-weather day, and he then decided to walk instead of crawling. "No way, I'm not crawling on this!" He has mastered the fast crawl, so he doesn't usually resort to his plunky toddling. Besides, he's trying to look cool.
He doesn't walk much, but he can climb. At the playground, it's right for the steps up to the slide, then down the slide feet-first and belly-down. Yesterday, Todd was doing some pruning and had the ladder set up on the patio. I turned my head for a second, then looked over and Trevor was on the first rung of the ladder. I freaked out and ran over, but I was holding hand pruners in one hand and bam, he toppled off backward right onto the rocks. I think maybe he only fell because I freaked out! He was doing fine. Don't worry, no brain damage, really not even a bump (although it had to have hurt.)

He found them! Okay, so I helped a little, but he would not give up. I picked all the ripe raspberries and he stuffed them in his greedy little mouth just as quickly as I could hand them over. Once the ripe ones were gone, he broke out the "more" sign, which he was all along pretending not to know. Ha! Well, at least most of them are too high up for him to reach. The strawberries, on the other hand...

Birthday Party

Summer birthdays are fun! Of course, Trevor's is right on the edge, and we got lucky with a hot, sunny day for his pool party, but more often than not, the Willamette valley provides rainy, cool weather well into June.
We had one kiddie pool filled with water and one with sand. It was spectacularly messy with Trevor and six young friends ranging from one to six in age. Betsy snuck off without her party favors so we are holding her kiddie fountain ransom until the weather cools off. It could come in handy for Cocktail Hour.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our schedule, it goes like this: Friday afternoon Cocktail Hour from 3 to 5. Yesterday was the third official Cocktail Hour and we had some very refreshing mojitos made with mint pinched from Warolyn's house. (There's no gate!!! If you knew where they lived, you too could help yourself to all the mint you desire (once it grows back.))
We are coming into my favorite eating time of the year. Sara G. was fabulous enough to sacrifice two pints of her painstakingly harvested strawberries, which I mostly hoarded from Trevor's guests. Trevor picked (and ate) his first strawberry from our patch yesterday (but he hasn't found the raspberries yet, hooray!) Then it's cherries, peaches, blueberries, blackberries. Todd is reading Trevor's bedtime stories to him now: One berry, Two berry, pick me a blueberry...