My best blogger friend, (BBF) Maureen, of Orgasmic Chef, down under in Australia, has had vertigo and it makes me so sad. She was free from it for a little bit of time but it came back. That sort of thing is maddening.

I suffered from migraines for years after our youngest, Zach, was born and it was horrible until we figured out a low blood pressure pill that prevented them. It is just terrible to be in such a state.

Maureen now has our mutual blogger friend Bobbi Ann, from BAM’s Kitchen, somewhere in Asia, helping her out with tips on massage and nutrition. We’ve all never met but this is the blogging world and ain’t it grand!?!

And then my other blogger friend, Suzanne, from A Pug in the Kitchen just lost her dear, dear dog, Nando. It is so hard. But, Suzanne does live in Brooklyn and WE are going to meet for lunch in late August. I am so excited!!

Meanwhile, this is the longest span that I have not posted and I apologize. Just so, so much to do – all good – just crazy!

And this is THE best, unique salad. Or at least I think so. I hope you will too!

I had reconnected with an old friend (in person!) from our congregation in Summit, NJ. So nice to do that! And about 8 weeks ago, we had planned to have her and her husband over for dinner at our apartment in the city, at a time when both of their children (younger than ours) would be away.

As I went through the grocery store several nights before, I spotted what looked good, all in the category of what I loved, trying to create an amazing new salad in my head.

Here’s what I came up with: baby arugula (always a good start), topped with grilled radishes (done on the stovetop in a grill pan), fresh mango (that looked amazing!), mint leaves (I had in the fridge from my garden) and a smattering of sliced scallions, all drizzled with a champagne vinaigrette.

What do you think?

I thought, unusual, clean tasting (no cheese) and I always love the combination of warm and cool on a salad.

This was really magnificent, if I say so myself!

The sweet mango, which was perfectly ripe by the way, (her husband Steve, offered to cut it as he grew up in Thailand with a mango tree in their backyard, so he was pretty expert at those slippery things with the weird shaped pit), combined with bitter heat of the grilled radishes (I adore grilled radishes – unusual, easy and delicious – my kinda thing!) along with the burst of mint every so often coupled with the mild onion taste from the scallions, bedded with the bite of arugula and drizzled lightly with a champagne vinaigrette – it was all so yummy.

My kinda heaven. I’d take two of these over dessert any day!

Our friends loved it so much that she wrote that they immediately tried grilling radishes 2 days later.

This is simple, but again, it’s all about the quality of your ingredients. Make sure they’re the very best you can find or don’t make it all.

BEST UNIQUE ARUGULA SALAD WITH MANGO, MINT AND GRILLED RADISHES – serves 4

4 oz. baby arugula
8 good sized radishes, scrubbed, trimmed and cut in half
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into ¼” long strips
40 mint leaves
1 scallion, cleaned and thinly sliced, white and light green parts only

Champagne Vinaigrette:

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbs. Champagne vinegar
scant 1/2 cup of olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Place all vinaigrette ingredients in a jar. Cover tightly and shake. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. More salt will cut the tanginess of the vinegar.

Even though your package of baby arugula may say it’s been triple washed, I recommend you wash it again, spin it in a lettuce spinner and then spread it out on your clean counter to air dry. You never know who’s handled it with hands that haven’t been washed and people have gotten sick. So please, always take the time to do this. You can even do this the night before and store the greens in a Ziploc bag with a sheet of paper toweling to absorb the extra moisture that will form.

Toss the radishes with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Heat your grill pan to medium high and grill the radishes until crisp tender with some nice grill marks. You’ll want to cover the pan for maybe 3 – 5 minutes in the middle of cooking them as they will produce a lot of smoke and using a lid will also quicken the process.

Place ¼ of the arugula on a salad plate, top with the mango strips and grilled radishes as shown in the photo. Drizzle about a tablespoon of dressing over all, garnish with the mint leaves and scallions and serve with love. Wait for rave reviews. So simple, so unusual and so delicious!