As I have alluded to in the past, I am quite picky about salad, and it takes a lot of salad magic for me to rave about one.  I’ve surely eaten a lot of ho-hum salads in my life, thus making me less than enthusiastic about most leafy salads.  But this one has got to be in the top 5 most memorable salads of my life.  The other most memorable salads being:

• My favorite side salad evrrrrr….Mandarin Lettuce Salad with Sugared Almonds, which I recently posted on the site.
• Panera’s Fuji Apple Salad, which I hope to recreate someday and make even better than the original.
• Strawberry Poppy Seed Spinach Salad – red and green = a happy heart forever.
• Mixed Greens Salad from the Angry Trout Cafe in Grand Marais on the North Shore of Minnesota.

The combination of flavors and textures in this salad is fantastic.  The chicken is extra juicy with a honey mustard marinade that caramelizes as it cooks.  And while the chicken is so good you could easily enjoy it alone, when placed atop a bed of crispy greens along with smooth, buttery avocados, smoky crisped bacon, juicy sweet tomatoes, and slivers of spicy red onions it becomes a flavor explosion that is unbeatable. 

This salad has a rather rich flavor profile, with smoky-sweet undertones, a hint of spicy mustard flavor and creamy avocados, yet it completely avoids tasting heavy when punctuated by the bright, fresh flavors of the tomatoes, onions and greens.  It’s perfect for a summer meal that is deeply satisfying, but not too heavy.

So, invite over some friends and enjoy a backyard meal with this fresh, impressive salad as the main course.  I bet no one will even miss the burgers and hot dogs when they have something this satisfying and delicious to eat instead!

Truly.  After a long winter, my very fair skin has the blue-tinged hue of freshly fallen snow, which is something that looks attractive on no one.  And while it would be perfectly lovely to call my skin tone “porcelain” – which babies somehow master with their smooth, dewy, glowy, slightly pink skin – I probably more closely resemble the color of watered down skim milk.  That, and I have become a religious sunscreen user at all times, which further contributes to my complete lack of golden, sun-kissed glowiness.

Now, as mentioned above, I use sunscreen every day, even in the winter.  This is, in part, due to my medical education and experience diagnosing some of my patients with skin cancer, but also (secretly) due to my desire to ward off the ever-dreaded wrinkles and age spots.  Ahem.  So, now the conundrum – how does one go about getting such a lovely glowy tan while wearing sunscreen?  Self-tanners?  Well, okay, but seriously, what a pain….

Interestingly, I recently read an article that states people who eat lots of beta-carotene in their diet tend to have skin with a healthy, glowy color boost that looks like a light tan.  And, in fact, a study found that most observers preferred the high beta-carotene eaters as having a more pleasing skin tone than the sun-tanned group.  This must be my answer.  I must start eating carrots.  Daily.  Of course taking care to avoid developing carotenoderma (the benign reversible condition when your skin, particularly the palms and soles, turn orange from excessive beta-carotene intake).

So, beta-carotene, a form of Vitamin A, is generally found in fruits and vegetables that are deep yellow or orange in color, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, cantaloupe, mangoes, and oranges.  It is also found in deep green vegetable such as spinach, kale, broccoli, and other leafy greens.  Essentially, by eating a healthy diet full of bright orange and green fruits and vegetables, you can get a lovely tan!

In honor of green and orange fruits and veggies, and in the hopes that someday we all might achieve that perfectly healthy, glowy, tanned skin (ha!), I am sharing today’s recipe.  Actually, I just really love this salad, and it just happens to be full of green and orange fruits and vegetables.  It has been my main go-to side salad for years now because it is just so tasty.  This salad has the perfect blend of fresh flavor, crunch, sweet juiciness, and acidic tang from the red wine vinaigrette.  And the sugared almonds are the perfect finishing complement for this salad.  You cannot skip the almonds – they are essential!

And then… well, it just tastes delicious.  Rich salmon flavor is complemented by a touch of smoky spice and balanced by a lightly sweet caramelized maple glaze.  Yum, yum, YUM.  This has been my favorite way to make salmon for years now.  You have to try it.  And finally… it’s healthy!  Super triple win!  Salmon is super food in my book, especially wild-caught Alaskan salmon (not the farmed stuff with color added – which just seems creepy to me – although it generally tastes deliciously rich and moist, while the wild Alaskan salmon is a bit more meaty and lean).  Pair it with some delicious, tender spring asparagus for a perfect, healthy, low-carb meal.  

This… this was our recent weekend jaunt to to Glacier National Park.  Ummm… how lucky are we??  We had the most beautiful sunny bluebird day, a spring picnic by the lake, a refreshing hike without the crowds, and spent the day with two little lovebirds enjoying the view.

So, I’m going to warn you now, if you wanted a lighthearted Saturday Coffee break, this isn’t it.  Things are about to take a serious turn around here.  So, buckle up and let’s talk about life.

Uh.  What can I even say?  THIS TALK by Tim Urban (whose blog Wait But Why is seriously awesome, by the way, especially his article on the Fermi paradox) is probably the scariest thing I have ever watched.  Ever.  Why isn’t everyone talking about this???  This seems so much scarier, more imminent, more man-made, more likely, and more completely devastating than global warming, nuclear war, asteroids hitting the earth, God’s wrath, or any other Armageddon theory out there.  I don’t want to be a downer, but seriously this is a must watch video if you don’t know much about the future of AI.  Plus, I’m a nerd, so this science/technology/metaphysical/philosophical/existential kind of thing fascinates me.  It’s a long video, but worth it….

Speaking of nerdy, science-y, and meaning-of-life-type-things, have you heard of SpaceX?  My dreaming, exploring, I-want-to-see-the-entire-world-and-now-the-universe mind has been soaring off planet earth as of late to imagine the possibilities and SpaceX is taking real steps to make this happen (ever since NASA went from being a beacon of human accomplishment and national pride to, ummm… well, whatever it is today).  I’ve become fascinated by the idea that space exploration and humans living off planet earth is likely to become reality in the near future.  It seems like the natural next step in human progression and survival.  Would I volunteer to be the medical provider on a one-way trip to inhabit Mars??  Maybe, just maybe….  As long as my techie husband can join me.  That kind of opportunity would be an incredible way to fulfill the next item on today’s discussion board:

Life purpose.  This is a great read on how to figure out your own life purpose, a question which usually leaves me feeling totally overwhelmed and pitifully unsuccessful.  Rather than asking “What is my life purpose?” we should be asking, “What can I do with my time that is important?”, and 6 other enlightening questions to help you figure out what you are really meant to do with your life.

Okay.  Now, let’s move on to some rather mundane things since we have had some serious contemplation about the future of human existence and the meaning of life….

Crumpets!  Oh, my British loving heart.  I must try these!

These S’mores Hershey Kiss Blossom Cookies.  A perfect twist on a classic.

Soup for dessert?  If it’s like this Mint Chocolate Dessert Soup, I’ll take it!

Cute alert!

Are you kidding me?  These homemade mini marshmallows look amazing.

Per my previous rant on my love for British Television… a map!  Love!

Gorgeous watercolors.  I want to cover my whole life in these.  And my future home, someday….

This oatmeal latte had to be made for me!  It’s so strange, yet so absolutely perfect.  I can’t even….

Do you watch Outlander?  If you don’t, you really should.  And if you haven’t read it you should do that even more.  I discovered these books by Diana Gabaldon purely by chance about 15 years ago, before anyone had even heard of it, and eagerly awaited each new book.  It was then, and still is, my favorite series ever… because some like it Scot.  oh, yes.

Until next time, my friends!