Today I got my first negative comment (gasp) on a social media site. Although true, it was pretty nit-picky, and I’m sorry the person wasted their precious personal time criticizing me, a stranger – especially since the person still “favorited” my recipe (odd). At the end of the day negativity always hurts a little, especially when you’ve worked hard at something, but it’s a part of life. The more risks you take and the more you put yourself out there, the more you open yourself up to mistakes, failure, and criticism.
I’ll never forget when I was a new nurse and I had a manager question wether I belonged in the position that I was in. At the time I was struggling with juggling a stressful new job that I loved and being a new mom. I was working hard, thought I was improving and growing in the position, but knew I could be better. Her criticism was devastating at first. I was someone who eventually did well at whatever I set my mind to and suddenly my best wasn’t enough.
I tell this embarrassing story because eventually I pulled myself out of self-deprecation mode, acknowledged the true criticisms, chose not to believe what wasn’t true, and figured out what I needed to do to be successful at my job. The whole experience made me a better nurse and person, and to this day I’m working at and loving the same job!
At the end of the day there is always room to grow. I’m a pretty good home cook, but I’m not a professional chef… My photography has been improving and I usually like it, but it never turns out exactly how I imagined it would be… and some days I still feel like I’m trying to find my writing voice as a blogger. The funny thing is, I’m okay with all of this, because if I didn’t have things to improve on, it would mean that I wasn’t taking any risks, which would mean that I wasn’t doing anything with my life! If you’ve had similar experiences I’d love to hear what you learned from them.
On a lighter note, for today’s recipe I have a Chopped Plum Salad and Ginger Miso Dressing. For the green, this salad is made with spicy mizuna. It’s topped with white salad turnips, toasted almonds, and plums, and it’s drizzled with an Asian full-bodied vinaigrette. It’s a little spicy, a little sweet, with a touch of tart.
- ⅓ C toasted sliced almonds
- 4 C mizuna, chopped
- 3 plums, diced
- ½ C white salad turnips, cut into little sticks
- ¼ C green onions, finely diced
- 2 Tbsp white miso
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ¾ Tbsp ginger (fresh minced or frozen)
- ½ Tbsp water
- 2 tsp honey or 2 tsp agave
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- If your sliced almonds didn’t come toasted, place them in a small skillet over medium-low heat and toast them for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they become golden-brown. Once toasted, set them aside in a dish to cool.
- To make your dressing, place all of your ingredients into a jar or a bottle with a tightly fitting lid, shake well, and then set aside.
- Next, prep your salad ingredients by chopping the mizuna, dicing the plums and green onions, and cutting the turnips into little sticks that are about half the size of a match stick. Toss all of the veg together in a bowl.
- To serve, divide the greens among four plates, sprinkle with toasted almonds, and drizzle with Ginger Miso Dressing.
Laura @MotherWouldKnow says
July 2, 2015 at 11:29 amI love this salad, especially the ginger miso dressing. What a nice way to move into the realm of “creative salads.”
Rachel says
July 2, 2015 at 11:40 amThanks Laura!
[email protected] says
July 2, 2015 at 12:55 pmIt’s totally not my grandmothers salad! I’ll be making this asap for sure.
Rachel says
July 2, 2015 at 5:02 pmLol! Thanks. You’ll have to let me know how it turns out!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
July 2, 2015 at 11:57 pmI really don’t get people. Have people forgotten that old saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?” I feel like people hide behind the internet and say things they’d never say to your face. I have some food blog friends who have gotten some not so nice comments as well. As my husband says, if you are going to blog, you better get a thick skin. (Not something I am so great at…I take everything to heart.)
Anyway, your salad looks amazing and I think your photos are beautiful! Pinning and sharing. Happy 4th of July!
adina says
July 4, 2015 at 4:33 amHi Rachel,
Your plum salad looks great. I included it in a small list of salads I would like to eat this summer on my blog, I hope that is ok. I would have to replace mizuna though with arugula or something else, I have never seen mizuna around here. But I think arugula would be a nice replacement, don’t you think?
Rachel says
July 5, 2015 at 4:32 pmI was actually considering writing this recipe for arugula, but then mizuna was available, so I went for that. Feel free to recommend arugula as an alternative and thanks for linking to me!
Kate says
July 18, 2015 at 9:08 pmThis looks wonderful and sounds tasty. I’ve never been a big fan of turnip. Would Daikon Radish work as a substitute do you think? I love how this salad has a bit of everything, sweet and spicy with lots of different colours, flavours and textures. Thank you so much for sharing.
Rachel says
July 18, 2015 at 10:38 pmIn this recipe I really like how the flavors of the dressing and the turnip play together, that said, I love daikon in Asian salads too, so I think it would definitely be a delicious substitute. If you’re on the hunt for something to do with daikon radish, you may also like Spicy Tropical Radish Salad and Peanut and Daikon Radish Noodle Salad.