Title clarification

Last night's post was a little bit of word vomit (a la Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls...if you get my reference, I like you already); I kind of haphazardly made a blog and posted before I could turn back and regret it. I feel like I owe you all a little bit of an explanation regarding its title though - "Salt and Balsamic??" What the hell is that supposed to mean? There are stories that go with both elements of this title. There are some things a girl just can't live without. For my friend Val it might be a special moisturizer, for Jacq it's undoubtedly a "sick" pair of shoes, and for Kara it's that perfect chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven. My things? Salt and balsamic. Maybe dijon mustard too, but the first two win out.

My mom tells me stories of how as a 3-year-old I used to slurp the balsamic vinegar from my plate. You'll still see me drawing designs in the remnants of my salad dressing and licking my fingers. And when I'm alone? I do drink the leftover balsamic from my salad plate. But I reserve that for the comforts of my own home (imagine doing that in a nice restaurant or on a date? I'd be banned from the establishment and dumped in about 3.2 seconds!). But Bon Appetit recently ran an article about 5 simple, overlooked ingredients you can add to dishes to amplify and enhance flavour, and "acid" was one of them. No hardcore stuff you'd find in your chemistry lab, but add a little lime to your guac, squeeze a little lemon in your salad dressing, give your saucepan a generous splash of red wine vinegar, and all of a sudden your meal has depth! and tang! and zest! My favourite though, is balsamic vinegar, so that's where part A of the title comes from.

Part B? Well, anyone who knows me can attest to my salt addiction. I would try to cut back for health reasons, apart from the fact that my blood pressure is on the low end of the scale, and so I see no problem in adding a little salt to my soup, or my salad, or my butter, or (best of all) on some raisins, nuts and chocolate (weird, I know, but it hits the spot). Salt too, adds depth and flavour to a dish when it might not have been obvious before, and while I realize my appreciation for salt borders on fanatical, I do think that the average lay-healthy-eater needs to appreciate it more. Most of the massive amounts of sodium we consume comes from processed food, which has all kinds of preservatives and unpronounceable junk in it anyways. If you're a healthy, conscientious eater who doesn't eat much pre-packaged, frozen food, you should be pretty good in the sodium department. On top of that though, I love the ritual of it. You know those pompous, fancy restaurants that never have salt on the table? I always think, "What a shame!" First of all, people have different levels of salt preferences. Just as we like our meat prepared differently or how our spice levels vary, so too does the amount of salt we like differ. Also, adding salt to a meal includes the consumer (i.e. me, eating the dish) in the process of creating the dish (i.e. it makes me a chef for a fleeting instant). Suddenly, I'm not only a placid, lazy patron, but I'm part of the creation of this meal, putting the finishing flourishes on something I will then enjoy. 

So salt and balsamic, two things I would have a lot of trouble living without, are the title of my blog. And while they seem to be solely food related, in truth, they aren't. Balsamic reminds me of my childhood, of adding zest to life - a little something I hope this blog will help with. My salt tale is representative of participation, and of finding deliciousness, luxury and enjoyment in the simple things. Together, they are vital (for me, at least...I managed to find balsamic in Zambia, thank goodness). And thus I honour them here.