[Last holiday package, December 2009.]

I mailed my fifth (and final!) holiday package last Saturday morning; crammed with dog biscuits, cranberry jam, a bar of delicious blueberry-lavender chocolate, tea, ginger-pecan cookies, and a small loaf of lemon tea bread I hope it reached its intended northerly destination of Napa with all components relatively un-shattered. This season, during what I self-declared to be an ‘off’ year, I sent more than I’d originally planned (and I won’t even mention the 55 holiday cards) — oh, so very typical! And still I wished for more time and funds to send even more prettily wrapped mugs and 1/2 pounds of coffee and decadent candies and homemade treats to nearly everyone I love and miss who doesn’t live nearby. Perhaps next year?

Either way, I’m pretty proud of my 2009 holiday efforts. I introduced some new recipes into my repertoire (an upside-down gingerbread apple cake that I think must enter regular rotation in the future), carefully chose some non-homemade goodies that I’ve heard wholly delighted their recipients, and practiced the very enjoyable (if a bit time-consuming) act of preserving seasonal produce in the form of cranberries (jam, and chutney).

In addition to all those baked items previously mentioned, in the past weeks I’ve made

1 pot roasted potato-leek soup
huge dish of cauliflower mac+cheese for work potluck
1 pot lentil-rice soup
batch roasted sweet potato-tahini dip
(+ 1 batch oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, for a party)

which were all delicious and perfect for that unexpected cold snap that descended just before the holidays in San Francisco.

After all that ‘work’ I decided to treat myself to something special — and I don’t just mean all those holiday cookies I snuck off of various plates. For whatever reason, perhaps to serve as a counter to all the butter-sugar-flour-tequila (?!) I ingested in the run-up to the holiday week, I was craving something raw — as in, a raw grated-beet-and-carrot salad.

It’s the simplest thing, really — just a beet and a carrot or two peeled and grated and dressed with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil and a pinch of salt. Boring, some might call it. And yet … and yet! It’s so delicious and fresh and satisfying that I can’t stop making (and eating) it. I think you’ll agree.

Please look at this as my belated Christmas present to you — and, err, if I’m being honest, to myself as well: a light, healthful antidote to all the decadence in which we’ve surely been indulging. This perhaps would be appropriate as a New Year’s Day salad, when the crumbs have been disposed of, the champagne bottles neatly stowed, the resolutions still polished and shining and possible. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Beet-and-Carrot Salad

2 carrots, peeled
1 medium beet, peeled
1 tsp. lemon juice (or more to taste)
1 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper

Grate the carrots and beet into a medium-sized bowl. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and stir well to mix and coat. Add salt and pepper to taste.