* 2 ¼ Cups olive or avocado oil
* ¾ Cup Dijon mustard
* ½ Cup white wine vinegar
* ¼ Cup fresh lime juice
* ¼ Cup cilantro, chopped
* ¼ tsp dried oregano leaves
* ½ tsp ground red pepper
* 6 (8 oz.) whole boneless chicken breasts, split in half
* 3 California Avocados, seeded and peeled
* 2 tsp sugar
* 1 ½ Gallons mixed salad greens, torn into bite size pieces

This is a good recipe. Try it!! It may be just as good as Central Market’s.

1/4 cup kalamata olives
5 cloves garlic
4 anchovy fillets
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 heads romaine lettuce
Croutons
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese or
2 1/2 ounces shaved with a vegetable peeler plus more for garnish

1. Place garlic, anchovy fillets, olives and salt in a blender; add pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and egg yolk. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while mixing.

2. Cut or tear the romaine leaves into bite size pieces. Add the croutons, romaine, and cheese to the bowl and toss well. Garnish with extra grated cheese if desired. Serve immediately.

Guess what garlic and Kalamata olive tapenade smells like? Central Market’s Caesar salad dressing. Blend in egg and little more olive oil and I’ll bet I finally have my recipe.

The turkey’s been thawing in the fridge for the past few days. I’ll take it out tomorrow morning so it will get close to room temperature by the time it’s ready to cook. Rob Olvera gave me that pointer. Supposedly your turkey won’t dry out as easily because the inside of the bird doesn’t take as long to cook.

I’ve never roasted a turkey (that I can remember) so this experience should be interesting. I’m going to rub the bird in a garlic cilantro butter and stuff it with citrus and sage.

On the side I’ve already made a Mediterranean heirloom salad – heirloom tomotoes (which I sampled and realized that I still can’t stand the taste of tomatoes in large quantities), purple onion, garlic, yellow bell pepper, fresh mozzerella, steamed asparagus, steamed artichoke, fresh basil and mint, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Tomorrow I’ll make either ancho bock smashers or grilled potatoes with an ancho and chipotle bock dressing. I’ll figure that one out depending on 1) weather 2) mood 3) time willing to spend in kitchen.

I went to Central Market today. I could live there if it wasn’t for all of the people. I left the house just as it started to rain. My thinking was: I’ll go to CM and pick up a few things for the salad, a few herbs and a couple other odds & ends. I’ll spend $30. $70 later I’m walking out of the store with two large paper bags. I prefer paper bags when I shop at Central Market because 1) they’re larger 2) it’s the trendy thing to do and 3) since I am a tree hugging, bra burning, patchouli stinking hippy I like to think that my grocery shopping refuse will rapidly biodegrade along with my aluminum cans, batteries and plastic bags that I get when I shop at other grocery stores.

I walk to the truck in the pouring rain. I’m one of those guys who won’t drive around the parking lot in search of a good spot. I’ll park in the furthest spot from the store. I always find myself out of my truck and in the store before parking spot shoppers have found “the spot”. Lazy.

So I walk to the truck. I’m drenched as are my bags. I drive home, park the truck, get out, get my bags, head for the door… almost there… Crash, Boom, Splash. The bag in my right hand ripped open and the only thing that decided to make a run for it was my 48 oz. bottle of nice extra virgin olive oil. It shattered and olive oil spilled out all over the garage floor. I had to clean it up. That sucked. Big time. Damn trendy hippy bags.