We continue to celebrate May as National Salad Month with our new pals at Noodles & Company, a franchise that feels like anything but. And we really celebrated yesterday at our local Noodles at Valley West Mall when Pete, the general manager and market training manager, and Christina, assistant manager, provided a tasting to some lucky colleagues and me.

“A tasting is a culinary global tour, so get your passports ready,” Pete told us.

Noodles salads - gorgeous enough to gorge upon.

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The next big event to hit the Des Moines University campus is right around the corner and just so happens to be this year’s commencement. Our grads will don their caps and gowns and when it’s all said and done, head out on their own.

The festivities take place over a three-day period starting on Thursday, May 24 with the COM Scholarship Golf Outing and class parties. On Friday, the campus will be abuzz with registration and a picnic on the grounds concluding with a reception and banquet at the new Veterans Memorial Convention Center. We’ll wrap the weekend up with the grand finale – the commencement ceremony on Saturday at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines.

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While our DMU campus is buzzing with commencement and the festivities of celebrating the work of our faculty and students, there is another holiday that falls at the end of the month:  Memorial Day. And for many families, Memorial Day is the official start of picnic season.

Keep picnic guests happy and healthy.

What’s the best way to take perishable foods to a picnic site or family get-together? Let’s begin by thinking about the ending: leftovers. Often we plan how to take food to a gathering safely, but after a long day of fun and sun, we don’t have a safe plan for getting the leftovers home, and it’s the leftovers that can pose a larger health risk of food-borne illness. The best advice is to plan enough food for the event so there will not be any left over.

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There is a little magic in the air at the Des Moines University Library as a new U.S. National Library of Medicine exhibit makes it’s debut. Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine will run through June 16 and is sure to delight fans of all ages and backgrounds.

According the the website, “the magic in the Harry Potter books is partially based on Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science, including alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy. Incorporating the work of several 15th- and 16th-century thinkers, the seven-part series examines important ethical topics such as the desire for knowledge, the effects of prejudice, and the responsibility that comes with power.”

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I like May for all sorts of reasons, including for its various “holiday” statuses. Did you know, for example, that May is National Foot Health Month, Mental Health Month, Correct Posture Month and Share a Story Month? For all you foodies out there, May is National Strawberry Month, Chocolate Custard Month, Egg Month, Artisan Gelato Month, Asparagus Month and – my personal favorite – National Salsa Month. May is a veritable smorgasbord of benefits!

It's May - time for salads!

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