1 cup basmati rice
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
black pepper
6 lettuce leaves

1. Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat and add the rice, stirring until coated.
2. Add the chicken stock to the rice, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover.
3. Season the rice with fresh black pepper and cook until stock has fully absorbed and rice is cooked.
4. Allow the rice to cool and serve on lettuce leaves.

Makes 4 servings

4 small red potatoes, quartered
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
water

1. Bring salted water to a boil in a pot and cook potatoes until fork tender.
2. Drain the potatoes and place in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until chilled.
3. Add the yogurt, dill and parsley to the potatoes and coat. Serve cold.

Makes 4 servings

1 pound pork tenderloin, cubed
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 dried figs

1. Combine honey, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic to make a marinade.
2. Marinade the pork for at least an hour.
3. Preheat the grill until coals are hot or oven broiler.
4. Remove pork from marinade and distribute evenly amongst 4 skewers.
5. Grill pork until cooked through to center, about 6 minutes per side.
6. Serve with figs. Alternatively, grill fresh figs along with pork kebab.

Makes 4 servings

Today is the first day of spring. I always forget that because there's never any sign of it. To be fair, it was at least bearably warm enough to do some grilling tonight, so I made some Honey Garlic Pork Skewers. In a perfect world I would have had fresh figs to grill along with them, but instead I just served the pork with the dried variety. This is a perfect marinade for pork that goes great on the grill. The whole sweet and smoky flavor is very complimentary and the vinegar helps to keep the pork very tender.

I did not plan on doing a spring equinox theme, but it certainly seems that way. I made a light Yogurt Potato Salad that could easily fit into any summer barbecue. Basically, it's just boiled red potatoes with Yogurt Dill Dip. It's tasty and easy to make and also a nice, light accompaniment where potato salad can usually be quite heavy.

Playing up the barbecue salads I also made a simple Cold Rice Salad. To be honest, this was more of a luke warm rice salad because impatience got the best of me. Shannon said this is her favorite rice to date and it's the simplest preparation; just butter and chicken stock. It can be eaten hot or cold and having a bit of rice with grilled meat almost seems like a pre-requisite to me. I also added some cottage cheese simply because I love cottage cheese.