Or as I like to think of it; the pregnant girl manna.
A few years ago I make this salad and bring it to the beach to share.
Jessica, quite pregnant at the time oohs and ahhs over it and tells me it meets all her crazy pregnancy needs.
I’m happy to have provided a good lunch and all is well.
Until the next summer, when I am in her former state and she returns the favor.
It is only then than I truly understand what she was trying to say.
This salad was like food to a starving Ethiopian kid. (I guess that dates me.... my father would have said Chinese kid.. I don't know what the starving kid de jour is but let me tell you send him some of this salad and everyone will be good.)
Bottom line, I cried in gratitude.
Seriously.
3 Avocados, chopped in 1 inch cubes
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
1 can of garbanzo beans
1/2 red onion diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 can of salmon
Mix it all together and serve over lettuce, in lettuce as a wrap, or with flax chips or flax crackers.
I'm don't know if this post properly conveys what Erin did for me that day. I remember stagger-waddling down the beach, roughly 16 months pregnant with my adult-size baby (ok maybe he was tween-size), with my 3 year old and what is roughly equivalent to a fully furnished studio apartment's worth of beach supplies.
ReplyDeleteFor weeks, it seemed, I had eaten nothing but peanut butter and apples, or peanut butter and toast, or just plain peanut butter, by the spoonful. My body was crying out for nutrition, but my brain told it I was too lazy, be thankful for the peanut butter.
When Erin handed me the salad I wolfed it down in seconds. "Where did you get this?" I asked her, my voice hushed in awe and quavering with emotion. "I....made it," said Erin, somewhat bewildered by the power with which her salad had obviously gripped me. "But how did you make it? Where did you get this stuff? What made you think to put it together? How did you do this???" I beseeched her. "Um...it's just, stuff I had in my kitchen.....Here, why don't you eat the rest..." And when her kids came up for their share of the salad and I coiled myself around the bowl (as much as one can when their belly is the size of an exercise ball) and bared my teeth at them and snarled, she just calmly told her kids to stay away from it and encouraged me to keep eating.
I made that salad every day for weeks after, adding kalamata olives, feta sometimes, or romano, lemon juice sometimes, but never peanut butter. Thanks Erin. I will never forget the day you rescued me with your amazing salad.