Spring fever

Is it my imagination, or has it been the longest, sweetest spring in recent memory? A couple of months ago, at a time when the frozen ground usually still rings like iron when struck by a futile hoe, I had lettuce seedlings sprouting in the garden beds, the kids were running in the warm grass, and the daffodils were in riotous bloom. Now the lettuce sprouts have been joined by arugula, radishes, carrots, peas, and the slightly obscene but lovable and delicious asparagus tips are shouldering their way out of the ground.

Maybe it’s nature’s way of apologizing for the winter from hell. Maybe it’s global warming. All I know is that the sight of those new shoots makes me feel young, hopeful, and… hungry.

Hungry enough to eat salad, which comes pretty far down on my list of favorite foods (you know, the one that starts, “Bacon.”). If your current repertoire of salads and dressings needs a jump-start–and whose doesn’t?–there are some great resources on the cookbook shelf. Check out “Raising the Salad Bar” (a 2008 favorite), Andrew Swallow’s new “Mixt Salads“, or the colorful and inspiring salads section of Mario Batali’s latest, “Molto Gusto“.

Local-foods books are popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain–all of them luminously photographed, so you can have a garden on your coffee table even if it doesn’t work out, you know, out back. Janet Fletcher’s “Eating Local” is a Sur La Table production with up-trending, elegant recipes; “Edible,” the cookbook from the Edible Communities magazine franchise, is more of a manifesto–filled with solution stories and inspiration from the food-progressive front.

Meanwhile, things are sprouting and growing at Eat Your Books too. On the Community Page, we have some new features we hope you’ll love: a Buzz section , so you can quickly find out what people are talking about in the food world, and on EYB’s forums. For all those times when you find a great recipe on EYB and you want to share it with everybody, tell us about it at Hot Find. There’s a Toolbox featuring our favorite kitchen gadgets. And check out the updated Seasonal Searches for some spring-fresh ideas for the season’s ingredients.

Susie