Today my post is going to be as quick and easy as this Squash Blossom and Ricotta Salad. So don't expect a lot of blah blah blah out of me today.

You see I was down at the Hollywood Farmers Market with Angela from Spinach Tiger this morning. We had a great time cruising the market and talking about food. The summer choices that the market holds are almost limitless right now. But I have been waiting for squash blossoms and there they were today. So there was no hemming and hawing from me. I picked up a couple of bunches and decided I'd make my mind up about what to do with them once I got home.

Now squash blossoms certainly deserve the royal treatment. I could have pulled out all the stops and brought you something quite spectacular. But I am in the mood for simple. So as good as these can be stuffed and fried I decided to use the beautiful zucchini flowers I bought in the simplest of salads. Besides who says simple can't be spectacular.

But creating a salad with these petit fleur is a balancing act in my opinion. Squash blossoms have a very delicate flavor. Mild greens, creamy cheese and a few herbs are all that is needed to highlight their best qualities.

With a salad like this the vinaigrette you choose is super important. I am not saying it is the central element, but without a proper dressing this salad could be a little unfocused. I am making a lemony topping. The bright punch of acid is nice with the creamy avocado, but it will also compliment (rather than overpower) the soft lettuce and sweetly floral squash blossoms. Use the very best extra-virgin olive oil you have too, the green quality will be just right in this instance.

To be human is to ponder. Can squash be art? Is zucchini life?

One is a question, the other a metaphor. But, I had time to contemplate such things because I had a particularly spectacular walk down the hill to the Hollywood Farmers Market this morning. It was such a typically spring Southern California morning. Which means there was a touch of gray in the air; what some people erroneously (even on the news) call fog.

But really it is called a marine layer, or inversion layer. If you live anywhere near a very large body of water you probably know what I am talking about.

Here in Los Angeles the inversion layer is particularly pronounced in spring. Some call it May Gray or June Gloom. But these are rather dreary monikers because this morning fog has its own special charm I think. Partly because you can count on it “burning off” by lunchtime, leaving you with some of the prettiest blue skies LA is capable of producing.

But what I really like best about these mornings is the special kind of “hush” that falls over the city. I don’t mean hush like quiet. LA is never quiet. There is always a certain low buzz or hum that permeates the atmosphere (11 million people are incapable of producing complete silence). But there is a gentleness in the atmosphere that envelopes everything.