Today I went down to my parent’s house in Manteca, and my mom and I sorted through some old boxes of my stuff. (Manteca is where I grew up and it means “lard” in Spanish. Somebody commented on my blog today, “I am so glad to have found you, and these, although my bum is not.” I’m sorry about your bum, Abbie, but I come from a town called Lard. It’s not my fault. Even the salad I’m posting today is ruined with fried bread. YES FRIED BREAD.)
But anyway, back to the old boxes. Are you a packrat? I’m not. I throw everything away, and somehow I still feel like my house is full to the brim. But my mom convinced me to hang on to some of my old stuff:
Fattest baby/cutest kindergartener award!!
I share a birthday with my Uncle Jim. I think it’s clear that that cake is really all mine though.
POGS!!! Also, me and my bro Nate performing a legendary rendition of “There’s a Hole in the Bucket Dear Liza.”
I’m not in these photos. It’s my sister Nikki. I just really wanted you to see that dress/hair combo and All The Stonewash. The photo on the right is Nikki on top of White Lightning, our family station wagon. I texted her this photo and she said, “I remember that. December of 1998. The shoes were popular in 1988 btw. Posterity will hardly notice the difference.” I think she’s right.
I laughed so hard when I read this poem. Like mother like daughter… On the right, me in London where I travelled with my high school choir as the piano accompanist. Or maybe that’s just a cover for my secret Superman identity. It’s so weird to see your entire life in a box. Baby announcements right next to high school term papers. I found a letter from a congressman congratulating my parents on my birth. I guess that used to be a thing? Weird right?? My high school reunion is this year. (10 years! How?) I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go, but after going through all this stuff now I kind of want to.
Panzanella! Do you love it? My friend Kate told me about this AMAZING salad she had in a restaurant a few weeks ago, and I had to recreate it. She came over as I was doing the shoot and I asked her if it looked right, and she just said MORE STRAWBERRIES. More strawberries than greens. My kind of salad. Can we talk about fried bread?
Why is this not more of a thing? I mean, I’ve fried dough. I’ve fried tortillas. Why not bread? Croutons are usually baked. But Kate told me to fry, and who am I to argue? Best. thing. ever. Eric and I ate the leftovers warm with syrup. I will be coming up with some way to breakfast this idea, just you wait.
The fried bread can be made 1 day ahead of time, so this is a perfect salad for Easter. In fact, the entire salad can be prepped the day before, except the mozzarella. Save that until the last minute so that it doesn’t dry out. And of course keep the bread separate so that it doesn’t get soggy. Other salads that would be great to serve on Easter: Strawberry Blue Cheese Salad:
Pineapple Spinach Salad:
Cilantro Lime Cucumber Salad:
More Panzanella from other bloggers: Honey and Strawberry Panzanella Salad from The Housewife Training Files Caprese Panzanella Salad from Spicy Perspective Chickpea Panzanella from The Clever Carrot
