Fresh Summer Salad

Does anyone else feel like months/days/minutes are slipping away?  We are already August, and I’m already in my third trimester of pregnancy.  I feel like everyday is full of a million things to do, mostly because we moved into a new house and there are all sorts of tiny things that need to be done, but also because, well, life is full of things to be done isn’t it?

That’s when some days you just have to go out and buy a lasagna instead of making it.  Or, create a simple salad for lunch.  This is a salad that I pretty much completely copied from the one at Patrice Pâtissier.  Patrice Pâtissier is a lovely little place in St-Henri run by Patrice Demers who used to be the pastry chef at Les 400 Coups.  In addition to the amazing pastries on display, the serve a nice light lunch made up of a short menu of salads, soups, and sandwiches.  There were a lot of business type people in the joint when we went, but it’s perfect for a stroller too with no stairs (or maybe 1?) to enter and room between tables to roll.

Patrice served his salad with giant Israeli couscous, but I think it works well with the regular ones too.  When I was served it I thought, hey, I could do this.  I had a bunch of radishes sitting in my fridge (I’m awful with using up radishes), cucumber and surprisingly, dill.  Israeli couscous is a bit annoying to make (toast! boil! simmer!  sit!) but in the scheme of things not too difficult and you can cut up the veg and herbs while keeping an eye on it.  Sorry about the non-measurements but play with this salad and even feel free to substitute herbs and veg.  Enjoy!