Spring Is Here, Cleanse the Palate Salad

March 24, 2011 / Serves one.

* For this to taste right, don’t bring the fruits and veggies to room temperature.

* On a plate, make a bed of red leaf lettuce, on which you put one skinned, cut up grapefruit.

* On top of that, add one and a half stalks celery, diced.

* Add 3 ounces of chicken strips. Include skin—this is no diet plate. It is a yummy, healthy dish.

* Top all that with 1&1/2 ounces cut up fresh pineapple, then a sprinkling of raisins.

* Sprinkle with sea salt, then drizzle with a bit of olive oil and lime juice.

When you eat this, there will be a lot of celery left for the end. It tasted really good. And was the last step of making sure that my palate was thoroughly cleansed for all the delicious spring foods that will soon be in season.

If you want your spirit freshened up after the winter, do the following simple brief exercise when you’ve finished your meal. (Actually, the meal may refresh your spirit quite a bit, in and of itself, but this exercise adds to it.)

1) Find one nice feeling in your body that comes from having eaten the salad. Let your attention rest gently on that nice feeling. This is not a sharp, fierce, difficult focus. This is a gentle relaxed attention; let your attention rest gently on the feeling, the way your head rests lazily on a pillow at night.

2) Then choose another nice physical feeling that comes either from having eaten the salad or from having done step 1. Use the same relaxed attention with it.

3) Now take deep relaxed breaths. Nothing fancy, just natural, deep, relaxed breaths. After you take three or four, yawn. It opens up the breath more. Then take a few more deep breaths.

4) Continue the same sort of breathing, as you imagine that you’re bringing in fresh spring air. Imagine that it is revitalizing and cleanses away mental winter grunge.

I hope you enjoy this dish and this exercise. Let me know how one or both go for you.