Salad days

So there I was, getting all excited over having dinner with SK on Tuesday night. For old time's sake, we ate at Thai Express. There is an outlet near his primary school and we used to eat there after school. His favourite dish was curry soft shell crab served with rice. That was so long ago.

That night, he ordered the same thing and ate it all up with gusto. I thought the dish looked somewhat different. He said the curry sauce was served in a separate bowl back then because he couldn't handle spicy food. But of course!

Now I recall the dilemma we used to face at the seafood restaurant. We had to order ketchup crab instead of chilli crab because of him. There were some unhappy faces (mostly YK's) at the table, but really, it's probably the worst way to cook a crab. Thank goodness those ketchup days are over.

Not only has his palate changed, SK has undergone some transformation. The puppy fat is gone. I found it hard to believe that the dashing young man sitting across the table is my son. The way he adheres to a healthy diet and exercise regime is quite admirable, especially for someone who used to love sweet drinks. He has completely stopped drinking soda and now has a toned body and good skin to show for.

Now that he's having school break, he makes his own lunch. It's usually something simple like grilled salmon, codfish, mackerel or chicken with a salad on the side. I've taught him how to make a simple salad with vinaigrette dressing like this one below. I tossed in some of my home-grown sunflower sprouts in there too. Sometimes I add radish sprouts to give it an edge.

It is so easy to fix a salad like this. All you really need is your imagination. Some additions like crush nuts (walnuts, pine, almond or peanut), onion, fresh fruit (apple, persimmon or mango), dried fruit (cherry, raisin or cranberry) can really liven up the salad.

For the dressing, the basic ingredients are olive oil and vinegar (or lemon juice). I like to whisk in fresh garlic paste and mustard or even lemon zest to give the dressing an extra zing. See, it's that simple!