Tasia’s Table. Tasia Malakasis

      I vividly remember the first time I saw Tasia Malakasis. It was a beautiful spring day and my company, Alabama Chanin, was hosting our annual picnic on the banks of the river that runs through our little town of Florence— Alabama, not Italy. Tasia walked up with a group of friends and a basket roughly twice her size full of cheeses and delicacies— all strikingly beautiful. Our community picnic and potluck was in full swing and there were incredible homemade dishes displayed down a long serving table. Tasia added her bounty and came over to introduce herself. We have been friends ever since.

      I would like to say that I got my first taste of Chèvre de Provence (goat-cheese rounds marinated in extra-virgin olive oil and spices) that afternoon on the Tennessee River. But it was the following day, when the event was over and the guests had made their way home, that I found myself in the confines of my own kitchen with several unopened jars of Belle Chèvre. I made dinner by opening a jar and sitting it on my kitchen worktable with a package of crackers and some blueberries. I’ve never looked back. My first bite of that goat cheese-olive oil concoction set my head spinning and kept my mouth watering until I finally scraped the insides of the jar a day or so later.

      That first jar led to a second jar and I decided to start adding it to my salads.

      One day, as I was tossing together my salad, I found my jar virtually empty of the beautiful little rounds— all that was left was the oil and the crumbs of what I couldn’t reach. In that moment, an idea came upon me: there, I thought, is my salad dressing. I squeezed a lemon into the empty container, shook it vigorously, and poured the mixture over a fresh garden salad, hoping the citrus would seek out and transport any remaining bits of magic to my plate. You will find the recipe on page 40. This is my favorite dressing (and I eat a lot of salad). Over the years, I have come to add garlic and just about every herb from my garden to the dressing. As Tasia says, the recipe is a “foundation for you to understand how you can improve it or make it your own.”

      The same with friendship. Tasia and I have grown our friendship across a few recipes and a couple of Alabama counties. I am proud to call her friend, supporter, colleague, and a daily source of inspiration. Truly incredible things do tend to come