There are times in life when you need some pink food to really showcase a theme. Baby showers and sweet sixteen parties come to mind. For me, it was the day my mom went for her final breast cancer treatment and rang the victory bell.

It had been a long journey of surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. Seeing her cross the finish line with a spring in her step and a smile on her face was something to celebrate. We wanted to surprise her when she came out, so while she received her treatment, the grandkids and I decorated the car for some anti-cancer cruising and set out a tailgate picnic of pink foods.

It was not my proudest food staging moment, I'll admit. Once you get past cotton candy and dessert mints, there aren't many pink options--especially ones that can be packed in advance, transported in secret, and eaten in a parking lot. And since it was our lunch, we needed savory foods. Aesthetics aside, we enjoyed our festive fare of salami roll-ups, hacienda dip with radishes and kind-of-pinkish beet crackers, watermelon slices, and strawberry cream pie. And the cruising was epic.

That was almost two years ago, and my mom is doing great, frisky as ever. But since then, it's been in the back of my mind to devise a breast cancer victory buffet. Something pretty in pink, tasty and refined, and easy to put together. That's where the pickled pink cauliflower comes in.

We like to play with presentation and color in the test kitchen, and when beautiful heads of purple cauliflower went on sale, I knew it was my chance. Purple vegetables are rich in anthocyanin--a flavonoid that turns blue in alkaline conditions but takes on a reddish hue when exposed to acid. (You may remember the purple cabbage pH test from your junior high science days.) I figured any standard pickling brine would do the trick. And it did. In less than an hour, the lavender florets turned brilliant pink, and by the next day, the flavor was as bright as the color.

I'm still working on the pink buffet concept, although I hope our family never has another brush with breast cancer. I'll keep my eyes open for inspiration, and who knows? I may have a chance to try it out at a baby shower or sweet sixteen party.