Spring doesn’t officially begin for me until Panera offers the Strawberry-Poppyseed Chicken Salad on their seasonal menu, and I snagged my first one of 2022 today. In honor of that momentous, and yummy, occasion, I’m bringing back a post I wrote a few years ago when I teetered on the brink of salad addiction!
I am a woman of amazingly simple tastes—well, for the purposes of this story anyway. I’m not at all opposed to fancy and luxurious gifts if you want to surprise me. Think spa day. But back to my point, one of the simplest pleasures I have found in life is Panera’s Strawberry Poppyseed Salad. No kidding, I am absolutely wild about this salad. It’s no esoteric recipe of exotic ingredients by any means, but when combined according to the precise guidelines of corporately-produced cuisine, I’m telling you these rather mundane elements reach sublime heights of deliciousness. Its sole downside is that it’s only available during warm weather months.
I have been a fan of this salad since its inception, and for several years it has been an enjoyable part of my husband’s and my summer weekend routine. Every Saturday, we walk the dog at the park and then head to Panera for our strawberry poppyseed salad lunch. It is “our” thing. During this year’s beastly Atlanta summer—endless days of 90+ temperatures, the second hottest summer on record—the only thing that has kept me putting one sweaty foot in front of the other on the three-mile trail is the thought of the salad that awaits me at the end. That, and the large Diet Coke.
But about mid-summer this year, my salad love started sliding closer and closer to salad obsession. I craved it day and night. That exquisite last bite, the one with the perfect blend of strawberry, pecan, and dressing, clinging to the final bits of field greens and chicken, became the stuff of my dreams. The days of the week were no longer Monday or Tuesday to me, but rather, five-days-till-Panera-day, four-days-till-Panera day, and so on.
And then I completely crossed over to the dark side. One day after I finished teaching my morning class, I drove straight to Panera and ate a full-size strawberry poppyseed salad . . . alone . . . without telling my husband! Soon, my car was headed that way every day after class. My hands actually shook as I gripped the steering wheel, partly from shame, but mostly in anticipation of the sweet relief my fix would bring. I felt so guilty, but I could neither bring myself to stop, nor confess to my husband that I’d defiled “our” thing by selfishly making it “my” thing.
And then it happened. They say all cheaters secretly want to be caught and will unconsciously slip up to bring about their discovery. A silent cry for help, if you will. My day of reckoning came when I had to get my salad to go because I was expected on a conference call on my home phone. After the call, I sat down in my kitchen, ate my salad, and then without “thinking,” tossed the empty container on the top of the recycling bin…the very day that my husband takes the bin out to the curb for pick up. Tell me I wasn’t dying to come clean!
“Oh, when did you go to Panera?” my husband asked that evening when he saw the container.
I froze in my tracks. I was tempted to concoct a story about finding the container in the parking lot at school and bringing it home to dispose of properly, but I “womaned” up and confessed that I’d been going to Panera for lunch almost every day. I braced myself for the fall out.
“Wow, you really like that salad, don’t you? I couldn’t stand to eat the same thing every day,” he said casually. Then he carried the bin to the curb. That was it.
At first, I was relieved that he’d taken my cheating in stride, but then I got to thinking about the implications. Maybe he was so cool about my cheating because he’s doing some cheating of his own. Dear God, I thought, could he be eating peanut M&Ms without me? Sneaking off with a bag of Reese’s minis? Stopping for a pint of salted caramel gelato with the boys after work? Obviously, these are issues that need to be explored in my marriage, and I will explore them. But right now, I have to run. It’s almost lunch time and there’s a salad out there with my name on it!