Summer Corn Salad -- A Side for the Season of Rebuilding

Two weeks post-surgery and I'm moving faster. The expanders are in and they feel strange — foreign objects in my chest, hard and smooth and not-me, the scaffolding before the building. Dr. Kendall will start the fills next week, slowly adding saline to stretch the skin, creating space for the permanent implants. It's a process measured in milliliters and weeks, and I am learning that rebuilding — like recovering, like gardening, like raising children — is not a moment. It's a thousand moments, each one small and necessary.

I went back to work this week — light duty, half days, no lifting. The clinic welcomed me with a card and a cactus (Jamie's go-to gift; I now have three cacti on my desk, which makes it look like a tiny desert). Dr. Pham asked how I was feeling. I said, "Reconstructed." He said, "Good word." It is a good word. It means something was broken and is being rebuilt, and the rebuilding is intentional and deliberate and mine.

Mason finished first grade next week. He's reading at a third-grade level, his science knowledge exceeds most adults I know, and he has exactly two friends — Ethan and Priya — whom he considers sufficient for all social needs. Quality over quantity, at seven years old. I recognize this trait. It's mine. It's Dawson. We don't collect people. We choose them carefully and keep them forever.

Lily's preschool year ends in two weeks. She will start kindergarten in the fall, and the thought of both children in elementary school simultaneously fills me with a combination of pride (they're so big) and terror (I'm so old) and relief (six hours of childcare is free when it's called public school, and free is my favorite price).

Memorial Day weekend approaching. No plans to go to Twin Falls — Dad's knees can't handle visitors right now, Mom says, and I suspect what she means is Dad's pride can't handle visitors seeing how much he's slowed down. Gary Dawson does not like to be seen as less than he was. He is seventy and his body is failing and he deals with this the way Dawsons deal with everything: by not talking about it and by walking to the mailbox every morning as if the walk doesn't hurt, because admitting it hurts would be admitting something he is not ready to admit.

New recipe #16: fish tacos. Grilled white fish (cod, lime-marinated), shredded cabbage slaw, chipotle crema, cilantro, warm corn tortillas. Light, bright, the taste of a California summer transplanted to a Boise kitchen. Mason ate two and asked for more. Lily ate the tortilla and the crema and left the fish, because Lily's approach to tacos is deconstructionist: she disassembles them into components and eats only the ones she approves of. The fish tacos were excellent. I ate three and felt like a woman who is healing and cooking and choosing and alive, and that is enough. That is always enough.

The fish tacos were the main event that week, but the corn salad was what I kept going back to — it matched the season I’m in, the one where everything is light and deliberate and pointed toward something better. We’re heading into Memorial Day with no travel plans and a kitchen that has become the place where I feel most like myself again, and this salad is exactly the kind of thing I want on the table: fresh, simple, no heavy lifting required in any sense of the phrase. Mason declared it “actually good,” which from a first-grader who reads at a third-grade level is the highest possible endorsement.

Summer Corn Salad

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 4–6

Ingredients

• 4 ears fresh corn, husked (or 3 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 avocado, diced (add just before serving)
• 1/4 cup crumbled cotija or feta cheese (optional)

Instructions

1. Cook the corn. Grill corn over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until lightly charred, about 8–10 minutes. Alternatively, broil ears in the oven 4 inches from the element for 8 minutes, turning once. Let cool slightly, then cut kernels from the cob.
2. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, and pepper until combined.
3. Combine the salad. In a large bowl, toss together corn kernels, cherry tomatoes, red onion, bell pepper, cilantro, and jalapeño (if using).
4. Dress and toss. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to coat. Taste and adjust salt and lime juice as needed.
5. Finish and serve. Fold in diced avocado and top with crumbled cotija or feta if using. Serve immediately at room temperature, or refrigerate up to 2 hours before serving (add avocado just before serving).

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 220mg