February already! February 15th even! What is even happening this year, with this timeline.

January was busy and difficult. Our car was hit, while parked (we weren’t in it), so dealing with that has been a daily routine of calling everyone involved to make sure they are doing their jobs. Coming from the hospitality industry, where you’re trained to do things for people *before* they need them, it just blew my mind. But we have  our car back, and I am ready for this to be over!

Meanwhile, February is looking very bright. We’re both home most of the time, and then at the end of the month, I’m off to New York for almost a week.

And Oregon has a grand tradition called the February Fakeout — where for about a week or two in February, it’s sunny and warm outside. For a short, sweet time, we think we might get a *very* early spring, and then it always returns to rain before too long. But right now it’s still the warm, sunny part.

After Dave’s heavy travel making his amazing super bowl commercial, we are getting back to our regular routine, and thankfully doing a lot more cooking at home! It’s always a challenge this time of year: basically nothing is in season. Except citrus, and only sort of.

There’s two phases of winter: the phase where you’re excited to ‘gram your pretty cut citrus, and the phase where you’re cursing the existence of it all and ready for some damn strawberries. I’m still hanging on to phase 1, but not for long, I think.

This was a salad I made for lunch for us recently for a fun twist on the citrus salad. I actually adore kumquats, they are so tangy and fun! They’re not absolutely required to make this salad, but if you can find ’em, try ’em!

Citrus Avocado Burrata Salad

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of broccolini
• 1 blood orange, peeled and cut into rounds
• 1 navel orange, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2-4 kumquats, sliced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 6 cups salad greens of your choice
• 1 Tbsp. best quality olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• zest of one lemon
• 1 large or 2 small balls of burrata

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Trim the tough ends of the broccolini (about an inch) and toss in vegetable oil. Salt well. Roast until fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Add broccolini, citrus and avocado to a large bowl with the salad greens. Top with olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, a heavy pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Toss and divide between plates. Top with burrata and enjoy!