Obviously, ladies love their salads: just check this out.  I never look like that when I'm eating my solitary salads; usually I'm cross-legged on the bed or wherever, watching an old episode of United States of Tara or the Daily Show.  But nothing makes me happier when I know I'm on my own for lunch or dinner than to indulge in a very simple, very vinegary toss of fancy lady-greens.  A few years ago I started always pairing it with a goat cheese toast, and I still insist on that, but now I have to kick it up a notch and put an egg on it.  Poach it!  It's the best ever.

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Between the ages of 3 and 10, my family lived in a place called Weatherford, Oklahoma. It's a small, windy town off I-40, about an hour west of Oklahoma City. Naturally, we all ate a lot of beef, and much of it in the form of burgers. This was the mid-70s, and Weatherford was just small enough to not have a McDonald's (in spite of I-40), but we were big enough to have a Sonic, an A&W Drive-In, a Mr. Burger (local chain), and a great diner called Magill's, on Main Street. It was my favorite place ever, the first eatery I remember loving and wanting to have all to myself. We ate cheeseburgers hot off the griddle, french fries, and thick, dreamy malts. It was the place I made my first "sauce"--mayo & ketchup, mixed. And if I was lucky, I got to sit at the counter.

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Fact: smoothie + bread = breakfast.

I love a good smoothie.  And I love me some homemade bread.  I think there's some kind of law against baking during the summer in New Orleans--when I ask for parchment paper at the corner store, they look at me like I'm nuts.  I guess I am a little nuts, but darn it, I'm gonna keep making bread because I love it and this is when I have the time.

Smoothie A: My classic, all-around go-to blend of vanilla yogurt, orange juice, a banana and frozen strawberries.  Blip it up and drink it down.

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