By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Last week, this column discussed the "searching moral inventory" I've employed to overcome my aversion to salads. This week, some practical tips:

• Invest in good cutting tools: a well-balanced chef's knife, a paring knife, Microplane graters and shavers, salt and pepper grinders and a mandoline, box grater or food processor for hard vegetables or fruits. The way that ingredients are cut makes a surprising difference. Instead of grating parmesan, for example, shave it — the flavor difference is stunning.

• Buy the best oils you can afford and keep them in the refrigerator; in our warm climate, oils degrade rapidly. Extra-virgin olive oil is my standard, but I also like walnut oil.

Start by immersing greens in a bowl of cold water, plunging up and down to remove grit. Spin or blot dry; they can be refrigerated in a Salad Sac or paper-towel-lined bag at this point. Tear greens into bite-size pieces, don't slice them.

• Employ the rule of three: Use three types of vegetables and three "yummy things" (grated cheeses, toasted nuts, marinated ingredients, citrus wedges or sliced fruit, grilled meats) — all varied in flavor and texture. A friend who is a great cook says she always adds something crunchy (nuts or a crunchy vegetable or fruit) and some form of fruit (citrus sections, dried cranberries, avocado wedges). It's also nice to vary temperatures — a hot vinaigrette over a cold salad; baked goat cheese or warm grilled meats on room-temperature greens.

• Conquer your fear of the odd. Fennel, which has a very mild anise (licorice) flavor is a crisp vegetable that beats the pants off celery; slice it thin. Arugula (Safeway Beretania always seems to have good, fresh arugula) is a wonderfully nutty-flavored green I can't live without. Flat-leaf parsley (Italian parsley) is much more flavorful and spicy than curly parsley. All the choys, toys and sois — Chinese cabbages — can be chopped and used raw, or lightly steamed, dressed with something flavorful and tossed in. Raw sweet corn grated off the cob offers a juicy, slightly sweet, crunchy contrast.

• Vinaigrettes: Instead of the standard three parts oil to one part acid for vinaigrette, I've learned a rough-and-ready technique that saves fat calories: Place the greens in the salad bowl and drizzle with a little oil (a few teaspoons for a family-size salad); toss. Add minced or diced or grated yummies (herbs, nuts, cheeses); toss again. Splash entire salad with a few teaspoons of vinegar or a few squeezes of lemon juice, add larger goodies (fruit, meats); toss and serve right away.

You can "melt" salt into the vinegar and whisk in any dried herbs, spices or freshly grated pepper before splashing onto salad. But I usually just add the vinegar and grate fresh sea salt and black pepper right onto the greens before the final toss.

The oil gives the greens a lovely sheen and the yummy bits adhere to the greens.