Fritters and salad

Santa Fe, June 1, 2014—

DINNER AT THE HOME of friends tonight, and as I've written on a few other occasions, it doesn't hurt when your hostess is a professional cook. We've known Deborah for years; she's a dear friend — one of the reasons, in fact, we've made this long drive this month.

We began with the fritters you see here: chard and other greens from her garden, some of the greens unknown to me and, I suspect, found only locally. They all got chopped up, I suppose, and bound with egg, no doubt; and fried in oil, I'm sure of it; and they were served with a yoghurt raita of some kind.

And then a fine big composed salad: greens, of course; and hard-boiled egg, and tomatoes, and red peppers, and flakes of smoked mackerel, in a perfect vinaigrette. Vegetarian is what Deb's known for, and it's what we delighted in tonight.