When Vancouver returns to its natural state of rainy grey I find myself turning to food for brightness, this isn’t particularly difficult when purple-green winter kale, electric mandarin oranges and pomegranates resembling the imaginary seeds of blood red roses flood the grocery store produce aisle. Both the cucumber and pomegranate seeds provide the most satisfying crunch as the salad is being eaten so pair it with roast lamb or crispy falafel stuffed pitas (or eat a massive bowl of it by itself.)

quick pomegranate and cucumber salad:

1/2 of an English cucumber, cut into a thin dice

1/2 of a pomegranate’s worth of seeds, do this easily by whacking the outside of the pomegranate with a wooden spoon so the seeds fall directly into your bowl

Small handful of curly parsley, chopped finely

Zest and juice of half a lemon

A generous drizzle of fruity olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked pepper

Place all ingredients in your prettiest bowl and lightly toss to combine. Let rest 15 minutes before serving to let the cucumbers achieve a lightly pickled effect.

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of music that Ian and I listened to when we first started dating almost 9 years ago. Thus Blonde Redhead’s Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons remains an oddly nostalgic album for supper preparation, bus rides and walks to the library.

Blonde Redhead – In Particular