Last weekend was very fun. On Saturday, I met a woman for lunch who was a friendly acquaintance in college. After college we proceeded to not have any contact for 15 years. Through the wonder of Social Networking, we have become Actual Friends on Facebook. We ate at a great authentic Mexican restaurant, which had a great queso for our chips and we got reacquainted. Or, heck, got to know each other in the first place. For instance, I had no idea back in college that she was an artist, but she freelances as a calligrapher and henna artist these days. She dolled me up after the juevos rancheros.

On Sunday, we had a couple of families over for games and grub. It was a wonderful time. Not only do the adults hit it off splendidly, but there are very terrific playmates for every one of the kids. The eleven-year-old girls are even a threesome, and, as everyone knows, girl threesomes are very difficult to manage. Whenever we get together, I always get the sense that no one is being taken advantage of, and no one feels like including someone else is a duty - it seems genuine.

Everyone pitched in with tasty food and one of my contributions was a salad of these ingredients:






Mandarin Cashew Lettuce Salad
1 - 1/2 heads of lettuce
1 lb. diced ham
1 - 1/2 c. red grapes
2 c. mozzarella cheese, grated
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 c. salted cashews

Dressing
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. olive oil
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. garlic salt
1 t. poppy seeds
1 T yellow mustard


Layer and toss the first five ingredients of the salad.


Mix dressing thoroughly.

Add cashews to the salad just before dressing and serving.