other people's plans

Chelsi asked about the chicken salad recipe. here it is, paraphrased straight off of page 112 in the American Heart Association's cookbook of one-dish meals. I've made it twice now (that's true love, I think. the same recipe, twice in one week?) and haven't been very faithful at all to the measurements, but in the words of my very clever sister, 'You're the boss. Don't let anyone tell you you have to follow recipes.'

¼ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon cumin
12 ounces chicken
¾ cup thinly sliced celery
2 medium green onions, chopped
¾ cup halved seedless grapes

some bread, sliced
a few leaves of lettuce
more grapes
--
toast the pecans for 2-3 minutes.
in a small-ish bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sugar, and cumin.
add the chicken, celery, green onions, grapes, and pecans.

arrange the lettuce on the bread, spoon the chicken salad on top, and eat. those extra grapes are for making your plate look all pretty. totally optional.

I use canned chicken and less celery, and sometimes I am in such a hurry to eat this stuff I forget the bread and the lettuce. how you want to do it is completely up to you.

what I should have done here is scanned page 112 and posted it up here, to save me having to paraphrase and so you could see the oddity of the recipe. as it was printed, it explains very neatly that you ought to toast the pecans, for 2-3 minutes, over medium-high heat. and then it never mentions the pecans again. am I supposed to add them before or after the celery? I do not know. the American Heart Association does not tell me. that I smirked pridefully at this small omission probably says a lot about the kind of person I am deep down inside.

deep down inside I am not a recipe-follower. I love to look through cookbooks, especially if there are pictures, but I have commitment issues. everything looks lovely and interesting and delicious, but I always end up closing the book without any real plans. deep down inside I am not a planning sort of person.

I have my roommate to thank for bringing this chicken salad into my life. for the past few weeks she's been acting matchmaker between food and me. she picks out the recipes, writes out the shopping list, and there I go. it's almost like a blind date, only without the random awkward conversations or odd-looking boys sitting across the table.