This past Saturday I stayed out until 5am, not something I do often. I was making salad with the guests at the Creative Time Fall Ball, a slumber party hosted by the Neue House, a private club in the flatiron district. Creative Time is the premiere public art non-profit in New York, exhibiting large scale works like David Byrne’s Playing The Building or Kara Walker’s more recent site specific sugar sculpture at the Domino Sugar Factory, Marvelous Sugar Baby. Known for thinking beyond the bounds of commercial art world restrictions, the organization is expected to deliver when it comes to their annual fundraiser.

I was asked to come up with one of the artist-led activations that would occur over the course of the night. How could I incorporate salad into this gala? Playing off the slumber party theme, my first thought was, raid the kitchen. Then I thought, better yet, spin the bottle (my go-to ice breaker, the game everyone secretly wants to play). And so, “Spin The Salad” was born.

I purchased a 5 gallon salad spinner (this neon orange baby is the corvette of lettuce washing apparatuses) and 18 pounds of beautiful baby arugula and micro-greens. For those of you who would like to replicate this game at your next playdate, here is how it works: player #1 tosses a handful of greens in the spinner, cranks the handle and lets it fly. Wherever the handle lands, determines their kissing match. In the process, we washed all of our lettuce, which was then tossed with lemon viniagrette. At 1am Francesco Pinello, the owner and chef behind Best Pizza in Williamsburg and the LES, arrived with 25 golden baked pizza shells. We quickly topped each pizza with the salad and served it up to throngs of ravenous art patrons. Even those who were too shy to play the game got a slice, and Best Pizza+Salad For President got rave reviews. Pizza tastes better when it is made with love.