I could eat here every day.

What a couple weeks I've had--days without power, freezing fog, neck surgery, dead car batteries . . .
I'm back in the office, dealing with e-mails with a pitchfork and trying to get something like caught up.
In the old days, on a day like this, I would have gone down to the lobby where Toby's Deli served 2-inch thick chicken salad sandwiches and eaten one at my desk. That chicken salad was one of those things that I couldn't really say was good but I liked it anyway--with pickles. Alas, Toby's has been replaced by a Bagel Stop, which puts more mustard than ham on their sandwiches. (The controversy and conversation in the building about the change is pretty serious, because the deli in your lobby is like a member of your family.)

So now I leave the building, and my new favorite is way better: Ingredients in the Westin Hotel--I've always hankered fruitlessly for good big salad at lunch downtown, and that's what they have. Lots and lots of other downtown workers agree with me. The line was so long today I just couldn't wait, so I picked up a ready-made panzanella salad. But usually, I "make" my own from the fine line-up of ingredients, especially the roasted vegetables and the kalamata olives and asparagus and golden beets and artichoke hearts. I don't even usually get a meat on it, but the smoked turkey's great. My advice: get only one scoop of dressing--their amount is just a little too much. And wait for a seat at a table to eat: if you try to sit at one of the comfortable but low tables, you will get dresing on your clothing, I assure you. It's the kind of place where you can sit down with someone you don't know, as long as you don't make too much eye contact as you eat.

Oh, and I got Calm Tazo Tea to drink. Does anyone think that works?

What are your favorite combinations at the salad line?