That's "garbage salad" to you. I have always loved this term, in English as well as my adopted French. But while it generally means a big, sloppy salad with the random and about-to-spoil contents of your overstuffed refrigerator, it can also end up being something a bit more delicate...

I made this salad on the eve of my summer vacation, wanting to leave the fridge and freezer nicely cleaned out for my house-swappers and not wanting anything to go to waste. I chopped up the leftover parsley and mint that was languishing in my vegetable bin and mixed them with some leftover plain rice. I stuffed this into the one remaining roasted red pepper from a nearly empty jar.

Then I quickly blanched the handful of remaining edamame from my freezer, and sliced the inevitable final radishes that always seem to stick around until the end in my refrigerator and made a little salad from the two, which I dressed with a quick vinaigrette made from the last tablespoon of rice wine vinegar, the penultimate shallot in my onion basket and some olive oil.

It was a nice, light, pretty final meal before I left for the land of shortcakes and fish and chips.

What's your favorite memory of a garbage salad?

- Kristin Hohenadel blogging from Paris. She can be reached at kristin @ apartmenttherapy . com