Vegetable and fruit salad, raspberry vinegar/mustard dressing

That is what I would show if I were to show only one ↑. Nothing more to see, just stop right there. 

The dressing is a small amount of mustard in a bowl with raspberry preserves whisked with raspberry vinegar and a light vegetable oil, salt and pepper.

The red pepper is charred.

Salad, avocado, cucumber, apple, croutons, pecans, feta, what have you, handmade dressing

Vinaigrette whisked with raspberry preserves. Doubly good with raspberry vinegar. Try it sometime, you'll thank me. 

Try it, I said. 

I am a mysterious and wondrous salad maker. I mention this because everybody who watches me in action or participates leaves awestricken and then they go around talking about the wonder they beheld but did not comprehend. It's embarrassing because it's easy as breathing. 

Nowadays I say, "Insurance policy states you have a seat outside the operating zone, and if you will wear these sunglasses please." Then holding the right arm outstretched into the center of the room  I open the refrigerator door with the left hand and scan the top shelf flicking my fingertips along the way diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly across the top shelf, diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly, fingertips spark and pop and smoke, diddly diddly diddly, second shelf, diddly diddly diddly, sparks and smoke, diddly diddly diddly, third shelf, diddly diddly diddly, first bin, diddly diddly, second bin, third bin, fourth bin, diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly, inside refrigerator door, diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly, when the scan is finished the door is shut and a completed plate of salad has magically appeared in the outstretched right hand.

Cannellini beans

Cannellini beans soaked overnight.

Bacon and other flavorings start off a pot.  The beans are added, water to cover. Three substantial slices of uncured ham are included, so bacon plus ham. It's a fat control thing. I'm aiming for more fat and more carbs. 

* onion

* garlic

* bacon

* white pepper

* salt

* bay

* brown sugar at the very end. 

I didn't want to color the beans so I held off from the spices. All of those things are impulse. They could have been nearly any combination of spices. I wanted the beans to be light and bright rather than heavy and dull. 

The Haystack goat cheese is a local thing that did well. No longer constrained by herd size limitation due to city ordinances, they've now expanded beyond all of that. 

Yukon gold potato. A small one. 

More photos.