Mixed Greens & Hearts of Palm Salad

There are never enough salads as far as I am concerned - I love salad! I think that I could create thousands of different types of salad if I had the right assorment of ingredients. Salad is truly one of my favorite foods. Even people who don't love salad or vegetables often tell me that they love my salads. Is it the love I put into making it, or the combination of flavors that make it taste so good? It is hard to say. I think that the energy and love I put into creating my dishes and recipes make them taste better, but it is also the freshness of the ingredients that add the great flavor. When I was young my Mom always made the best salads. I would stand next to her and she cut the iceburg lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, and radishes (she always made the same salad) she then would pour in red wine vinegar and olive oil, season it with a little salt and pepper and toss it. It was that simple, every single time. I would stick my fingers in the bowl and come out with the largest piece of lettuce I could find. She would yell get your fingers out of the bowl. This would happen every single time but I never got tired of watching her create the same salad over and over. She made it seem so simple and easy. This is where my love for salad began - I am quite sure of it. For some of us love and food go together like to two peas in a pod. That is how I relate to food and cooking. I put everything I have into it, and my dear friends, that is what makes a salad loaded with vegetable you don't normally like to eat, taste so good. I am feeling so blessed today, I just have to say it. I had the most wonderful day in the mountians shoe shoeing with my dear friends and then I was blessed to have a dinner reunion with friends I hadn't seen in over ten years last night. Life is good. Stay healthy and eat your greens. With MUCH LOVE, Cecelia