Celebration Salad

I've seen this salad in many vegan and whole foods cookbooks. It's a pretty simple salad of fresh carrots and beets. What am I celebrating?  The first fresh vegetables of the season and for us in the Pacific Northwest, we are celebrating sunshine today. Nice warm sunshine.

This is the way Chef Al Chase taught me to make Celebration Salad.  I grated four small to medium red beets, one golden beet I had, and four medium carrots.  To those grated vegetables, I added the juice and zest of one orange, a little flax oil, and a little chili oil, about a tablespoon each.  I added some fresh ground Celtic sea salt and a dash of cayenne pepper.  I usually use chopped parsley, but I didn't have any so I used some fresh cilantro from the garden.  Not too much, about a tablespoon and a half.  It will settle and become juicy and flavorful after chilling overnight.  This salad definitely makes me feel like summer is coming.