Sashimi Salad plus New Year's Resolutions - Yes They're Late

I like New Year's Resolutions, for the same reason I like new journals and new stationery. A sense of freedom and possibility wells up in me when I consider everything ahead - the literal as well as metaphorical turning over of new leaves. The year ahead always offers all the time in the world to read books, get fit(or just fitter), learn a new language, take up a new hobby, volunteer, figure out my next career, or even just ponder whether to plant an ornamental tree in the garden.

But I feel like I missed the boat in January. Freezing cold London on New Year's Eve felt like a time for bunkering down and retreating to a cave, not contemplating the abundant possibilities that midsummer in Sydney conjures up. No resolutions were made and now I feel a little adrift. So here is an abridged version of my 09 resolutions which are being made slightly late fr Feb 1 instead of Jan 1, at least as relevant to food and this blog.
1. My Green resolution: Throw out less food. Come up with wonderful recipes for leftovers. Treat my fridge like a giant Tetris game, where if I am left with two egg yolks from one recipe, I find another recipe to use it in. I am planning to track exactly how much food I throw out in Feb, to get a feel for the size of the issue.
2. My Clutter resolution: Get rid of the food magazine backlog by going through them, pulling out the recipes I want and throwing the rest into the recycling bin. I have piles of pre-incarceration Martha Stewarts, alongside pre-millenium Vogue Entertainings - this must change!
3. My Organisation resolution: Paste all my torn-out recipes into scrapbooks instead of leaving them to compost in a giant unmanageable box (this contains really ancient things like NY Times recipes from 1994; I promise to share any amazing discoveries).
4. My Waste Not Want Not resolution: Cook at least one thing from every recipe book I have never used. Enough said.
5. My Expand The Horizons resolution: Serve a vegetarian dinner once a week to my tribe of carnivores (hey, you've got to start somewhere)



But enough about me. Here is a wonderful salad I pulled together this week in the middle of the chicken pox nightmare. It took no time or effort (yay), but was enthusiastically enjoyed. And the colours are so pretty...



Sashimi Salad



Assorted sashimi (I used a large take-away box of salmon, tuna and kingfish), thinly sliced
1 cucumber, sliced with a peeler into ribbons
4 cups mixed leaves
1 bunch blanched asparagus tips
3 shallots (green onions, white part finely sliced)
Pickled Ginger to taste
1 tbl toasted sesame seeds

Dressing - Asian sesame dressing if available; otherwise juice one lime and sprinkle over salad then drizzle salad with extra virgin olive oil and toss.

Directions- Mix cucumber, asparagus, shallots and leaves together with dressing. Lay the sashimi on top just before serving, then sprinkle with ginger and sesame seeds.