I am a big fan of Trader Joe’s and I have often wondered if it really is a cheaper brother to Whole Foods. Although we don’t shop at Whole Foods, except for birthday cakes, I love browsing the aisles of both these stores at leisure. And there are days I get ambitious and shop a lot of things without thinking what and how I am going to put them to use. One such day was last Saturday when I spent quite a lot time in TJ’s shopping for things I did not know how to use (together).

Friday nights are date nights for Agam and me and we usually eat out. But the weather has been a deterrent lately, along with our influenzas and hence we stayed indoors. I came up with idea of elaborate cooking and wine along with Before Sunset. Agam chimed in and so we decided to dig out some recipes and put the ingredients in the fridge to use.

The first recipe I found was that of Strawberry Salad. I make this quote often, but this time, I used the recipe for the dressing from food channel website. Here is what we did

1 cup strawberries, sliced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
4-6 basil leaves chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Although the recipe suggested to grind these ingredients together, I preferred them as is. I let the dressing stand for 10 minutes and tossed in some fresh spinach, feta cheese, almond slices and fresh strawberries in the end. Let the salad set in the fridge for 10 min.. and voila..