Lettuce leaves and roasted beets

I find it soothing, perhaps nurturing, to wash and dry lettuce leaves. It's an intimate relationship with food: rinsing each bunch in the cold water; spinning it through the colander; setting every leaf out on the counter to dry.


And there's a similar sense of caring (though it is admittedly more tedious) when preparing roasted beets: scrubbing each beet, setting them collectively in the oven, holding each one to rub and peel off each bit of skin, finally getting to cut them open and the wonder of finding their hidden stripes.


Then, finally, putting it all together in salad form, sitting down to eat, enjoying simple and good food.