Try This Lip-Smacking Pink Grapefruit Balsamic Vinaigrette! (From the Department of Salad Dressing Room 👗)

Eureka! We've created the vinaigrette we'd like to bottle—quite seriously.

I CAN SAY WITH ALMOST no hesitation that buying bottled salad dressing is often a mistake—and please notice that I say “often.” Because as a kid who grew up on Hidden Valley Ranch (which you made from an envelope of magic powder) and Wish-Bone Italian dressing (with the little chunks of onion sunk to the bottom of the bottle), I more than get the appeal. They can be delicious (especially if you like the taste of old things from your past).

Nostalgia aside, I’d much rather make my own, despite how often the boys in the lab try to convince me to get with it and start using their current favorite bottled dressings—from fancy small-batch vinegar boutiques and/or tech-bros turned condiment makers. It’s so convenient, they say. But I honestly don’t see what is convenient about getting in the car, driving to the grocery store, getting out, going in, finding the dressing, paying for it, getting back into the car, and driving home.

Besides, I consider it an honor and a pleasure rather than some kind of chore to spend as much time as I do in the Department of Salad Dressing Room. Especially when it pays off the way it did this week, with my Pink Grapefruit Balsamic Vinaigrette.