By Week 491. Summer 2025. I am 42 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like grilled food and garden herbs and this is my life. This is the life I built.
The clinic was busy this week — spring puppies and summer emergencies and the constant, comforting cycle of animals who need care and humans who love them enough to bring them in.
Mason is 14 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.
Lily is 12 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.
I made zucchini noodles this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.
The zucchini noodles happened mid-week, but it was the Cobb Salad that we came back to — the one that lets me use whatever the garden gives and whatever the grill has left over, the one that Mason will actually eat without negotiation and that Lily loads up with avocado like it’s a personal challenge. It’s not a complicated recipe. That’s exactly the point. Week 491 didn’t need complicated — it needed a big bowl of something real, eaten outside under the string lights, which is where we always end up when summer finally decides to stay.
Cobb Salad
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 4 large eggs, hard-boiled and sliced
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup blue cheese or red wine vinaigrette dressing
Instructions
- Grill the chicken. Brush chicken breasts with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Grill over medium-high heat for 6–7 minutes per side, until cooked through and internal temperature reaches 165°F. Let rest 5 minutes, then slice or chop.
- Prepare the eggs and bacon. Hard-boil eggs by placing them in a pot of cold water, bringing to a boil, then simmering 10 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath, peel, and slice. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy; drain on paper towels and crumble.
- Build the salad base. Spread the chopped romaine evenly across a large serving platter or individual bowls.
- Arrange the toppings. Working in distinct rows or sections, arrange the sliced chicken, crumbled bacon, sliced eggs, diced tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and blue cheese over the lettuce.
- Dress and serve. Drizzle dressing evenly over the salad just before serving, or pass it on the side. Toss gently at the table if preferred.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 430 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 27g | Carbs: 9g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 720mg