It’s dandelion season! Or it has been for a while now. For me it really isn’t fully spring until the grass is full of yellow dandelion blossoms and tiny white daisies. I love it so much that if I had a house and my own yard, I probably wouldn’t even mown the lawn, because flowers are just prettier.
It’s dark and windy out as I write this. The first leaves have fallen down and others are still changing color. The stores are stocked with pumpkins of all shapes and colors and I’ve been living in my Fall coat for the past week or two. I am really, really, reeeeally loving every minute of it. Fall is awesome and I can now safely say it’s really here, we’re past the half-summer-half-autumn phase.
The summer was very dry this year, but ever since the temperatures dropped we’ve also had quite a lot of rain. This is typical autumnal weather and it’s also very good for mushrooms. I can’t remember the last time I went mushroom picking, but I’m tempted to go this year. Whether I go or not, I’ll still be enjoying mushroom dishes.
Whew, this week didn’t start out as planned. I originally wanted to share a delicious chocolate hazelnut meringue cake with you, but that obviously didn’t work out. I baked both meringues in the oven at the same time, so they weren’t both positioned at the same height which was a big mistake because one of them ended up being undercooked. That was a big fail and I still get mad when I think about it. Meringues seem easy to make, and I still think they are, but it all comes down to the oven and cooking time. I did improvise a bit in the end, so we did have a dessert to enjoy after dinner, but I just couldn’t post that as a recipe, there was really no point. I will go back to it one day and share a proper recipe with everyone. I was so over desserts for a day or two though, that I decided to make something completely different. A salad, but not just any salad, the best, most indulgent salad in the world – my mom’s vegetarian Salad Olivier.
Where do I even begin? I have been wanting to make this for months now. December is the big “Salad Olivier” month and I am so happy it’s finally here! Seriously, I am not overreacting. Salad Olivier, also known as Russian potato salad, is a holiday staple where I live. And it’s more than that, it’s a celebration staple. People serve this at gatherings, birthday parties, at any family event, and it’s always a big hit. When a bowl of this appears on the table, people reach for it, almost fight over it. It’s one of those situations where you wish you could just keep the whole bowl right there at your plate, but we all have to be fair and kind and pass it around. So, you take a few tablespoons, enjoy it greatly and then wait to see if there’s any left in the bowl in the end. As a host, I love to make a bigger batch and save some for breakfast the next day. Salad Olivier, fresh bread and some cheese – that really is a killer breakfast, really, what more could you want on a sleepy Christmas morning? Besides coffee of course.
