Sublime!

I made this salad for dinner last night. Go on, click that link. It's definitely the most ambitious salad I've ever made, so much so that it seems misleading to call it a "salad." It's not difficult; it just involves a lot of chopping and tossing, but that's part of the fun -- I love the kind of "cooking" (this isn't really cooking, I guess) in which I get to just toss in handfuls of whatever looks good. I liked it so much that I decided to dedicate an entire blog post to telling you that you should make it too, especially before the end of summer, since it's really a perfect warm-weather dish.

My notes: I used all of the ingredients she lists, even the ones not included in the pictures (such as cucumbers and cashews, which were divine in the salad). The only one I would suggest leaving out, if you don't care for that little extra kick, is the hot peppers in the dressing (Mom, I'm looking at you).

Also, this makes a ton -- A TON! -- so you might want to pick up one of those little backyard wading pools for mixing it all together. Heh! Just kidding. Kind of. I started with what I thought would be a big enough mixing bowl, but I wound up digging out the huge plastic bowl we've rarely used (because it holds ten tons of stuff). Seriously. Mix it in the biggest container you have.

Also, the recipe for the dressing makes more than enough to coat the entire salad, so no need to go overboard with the oils and soy sauce.

Mine actually did look exactly like the picture. Matt thought I should take a picture of ours, but we've already eaten a couple of meals out of that gigantic bowl, and when it was all fresh and pretty it was sitting in the midst of a kitchen overtaken by messy cutting boards and bowls and pieces of vegetables. You'll just have to take my word for it.