Yep, this salad is just like a spicy bloody mary, except slightly thicker! A vegetable-packed salad, perfect for potlucks, dieters and healthy eaters. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ So Many Choices: Another Perspective The choices consumers must make every day can be overwhelming. How many mustards does a society need? What’s the point, exactly? BUT THEN: I recall an animated family Thanksgiving turned silent as grace was spoken by a woman of a certain age, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to many gathered round the table. “Thank you, Lord, for taxes,” she began, “it means we have work. And thank you for the pile of dishes to wash after our meal, it means we share it with people we love.” AND THEN: I recall a corner grocery in Moscow during the Soviet years. There were six shelves, bare but for a single jar of sour pickles. I learned that day that the wealth of capitalism, and democracy, is measured in food. Despite its quirky name, BLOODY MARY SALAD represents

Do you have a go-to cake for birthdays, anniversaries and other special celebrations? I love-love-love the festive look of layers cakes and this one is extra-special! It's a moist chocolate layer cake, only slightly sweet but rich thanks to the oh-so-luscious chocolate whipped cream icing. The chocolate whipped cream frosting itself is so good, it makes even a cake-mix cake completely delicious. Birthday parties have changed over the years, yes? I’m not so old though admit to having celebrated only 29 birthdays. Even so, what I remember are outdoor parties on blue-skied summer days, the girls arriving in frilly dresses and patent leather shoes and the boys in dress slacks with shirts already partly untucked. Now limos deliver bands of kids to pizza places and basement sleepovers. And the girls wear jeans and the boys’ shirts are fashionably untucked! What hasn’t changed about birthdays is how cake and candles add to sense of festivity. This CHOCOLATE CINNAMON WHIPP