Today marks the inaugural entry for the Sundial’s new food blog: CSUN-ny Side Up. If your eyes are perpetually bigger than your stomach, you should feel right at home. Check in each week, Monday through Thursday, for the latest and greatest in all things food. Cooking tips, restaurant reviews, fun facts and recipes will be uploaded daily by the Sundial’s chef-in-residence, Jake Fredericks. Additionally, our chef is available throughout the week to answer any questions you may have in regards to published content.

Here we go…

In keeping with the Sundial’s first week content of eating healthy in 2014, I decided to cast some light on culinary’s equivalent of the twice-removed cousin, the salad. Routinely categorized as a dining option reserved for finicky grandmothers and bashful first dates, the salad has rapidly evolved from the healthy substitute for a side of french fries or a cup of soup into a meal all its own. This transformation has opened the door to unlimited mix-and-match combinations, and has inspired restaurants to model entire menus with salads as their centerpiece. This week, Jake gives you the skinny on the humble origin of salad, tips to concoct your own lettuce-inspired creation and reviews detailing top-notch salad locales in the SFV.

Cooking Tip #1: “A Bowl in Hand is Worth Two in the Whisk”

Sometimes, we all just need a hand– literally. When attempting to make dressing from scratch, you will often be tested on the limits consistent with a two-handed mammal. Unless you’ve studied under the tutelage of fictitious X-Men protagonist, Charles Xavier, I doubt you’re able to keep a bowl steady while wielding a whisk in one hand as you pour a cup of olive oil from the other. To compensate for the lack of an additional opposable-thumbed limb, form a dish towel in the shape of a ring and rest the bowl atop the towel. Now, you can whisk and pour olive oil at the same time (without the aid of telepathy) and the bowl won’t shoot across your counter.