Angela's iPod

What’s in the neo-soul section of my iPOD

CHOKLATE
CHOKLATE 2006: 4.5 Stars

I have had this CD for about two years and it is still one of my favorites. It is a true upbeat groove, a combination of soul, R&B, and hip hop. You can listen or tap your feet if you want but by the time you get to “Waitin” you will be up on your feet (if you like to dance). The music kicks and her voice melds perfectly. This is true "ear candy!" It is such a shame she does not get airplay on the radio. But at least you can go out and purchase her and hear for yourselves just how much fun this CD can be.

Although I like every song on this CD, the stand-outs are the upbeat “Waitin”, which features Chali 2na of Jurassic5, “Bigger Than You” a true slow groove, "Getting Is Good" a quiet ballad of life, “Heavy” a lazy, easy song of belief and risk, "What‘s About To Go Down" a bluesy, gospel rendition with a beautiful sax solo, and a very pretty secret cut that I’ll call "Fire Water." Her words are real and touch a chord within you, as she sings about things that are relevant to all of us - love, change and poverty.

She is on the label The Kajmere Sound. I have also purchased and enjoyed their compilation; I am sure they are up and coming. As she says, “I’ve been “waitin” a long time for this.”

Check her out @ http://www.choklatemusic.com/home.html

Riesling Week 2008

June 16th-22nd, 2008

This week find Rieslings from Germany, Austria and Alsace at the top restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Las Vegas. Restaurants will feature European Rieslings by the glass, European Riesling flights, or special Riesling pairing menus.

New York Restaurants:
154 South Gate, Jumeriah Essex House

Alto

Aquavit
Aureole

Blue Fin

Blue Water Grill

Bobo
Café Boulud

Craft

DB Bistro

Fat Cat Pie
Harry's Café & Steak

HearthL'Ecole Restaurant

Metro Café and Wine Bar

The Monday Room

Raoul's

Saul

Terroir

Thalassa

Tocqueville

Wakiya at the Gramercy Park Hotel

New York Retail Tastings:
67 Wines & Spirits, Saturday, June 21 from 4-7pm
Bottlerocket, Thursday, June 19th from 5-8pm
Crush Wines & Spirits, Monday, June 16th 5-7pm
Fountain Head Wines, Saturday, June 21st during regular store hours
Union Square Wine & Spirits, Thursday, June 19th from 6-8pm

Chicago Restaurants:
Blackbird

Blu Coral

Blue Water Grill

Café Bernard

Carlos' Restaurant

Le Colonial

D.O.C. Wine Bar

The Freehling Room

May Street Market

Mirabell Restaurant
Powerhouse

The Pump Room

Republic Restaurant & Lounge

Roy's Chicago

Salpicon

Shaw's Crab House

SpringTRU

Webster Wine Bar

Chicago Retail Tastings:
Printer's Row Wine Store, Thursday, June 19th from 5-8pm
Gentile's Wine Shop, Friday, June 20th from 6-9pm
Galleria Market, Friday, June 20th from 4-8pm
Provenance Food & Wine-Lincoln Square, Thursday, June 19th from 6-8pm
Provenance Food & Wine-Logan Square, Saturday, June 21st from 3-6pm
Holiday Wine & Spirits
Gourmet Pantry, Friday, June 20th from 4:30-7:30pm
Lush Wine & Spirits-Roscoe Village, Thursday, June 19th from 5:30-8pm

Lush Wine & Spirits- University Village, Friday, June 20th from 6-8pm
Artisan Cellar, Wednesday, June 18th from 3:30-6pm

Click here for Las Vegas & San Francisco participating Restaurants.

For more information, email info@germanwineusa.com.

Play It As It Lies

By Jeff

OK, let's continue our review of the the 69th Senior US Open. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and there was just enough wind to dislodge any number of allergy irritants. Basically, a perfect day. As a spectator, we’re used to seeing the masses following Tiger Woods (usually the ropes are restraining a crowd typically 10 rows deep). Not so for the Champions Tour. It’s not like there aren’t crowds, it’s just easier to get closer to the action than the regular PGA tour.

When you come to the 1st tee, you’ll notice a right facing, perpendicular set of tees. The first hole shares a tee box with the number 14 hole. Let’s examine the pro approach to playing, shall we?1st hole. Slightly downhill, baby dogleg left, tree lined fairway on the same side. Out of bounds to the right side, and, you have to cross a creek 40 yards in front of the green to a “Sunday sucker pin placement”. [Translation: if you don’t want to wreck your scorecard, don’t even think about hitting it here!] The pin is located on the green right behind the front left bunker. For the most part, the pros took either driver, or 3 woods, off the 1st tee depending on their methodology.

Hello course management! Most of the pros played their approach shots to the fat part of the green instead of trying to attack that pin. Hmmm, maybe they’re onto something? Since the 2nd tee box is near the 1st green, I decided to camp out on the rope to really get a good look at the pro’s tee shots.

Next is an uphill par 4 slight dogleg right. This is interesting to note because my 1st instinct is to hit with a driver. There were few pulled. The choices ranged from fairway wood, to hybrid/rescue, to long irons. Maybe it was just me, but these guys haven’t lost a step. They crushed their shots! The balls were decimated.

Now I really feel like a little kid. Golf is a game. And, although some would like to call it a way of life, I call it my mistress. I’m so consumed by it that all other menial tasks fall by the wayside. Now, before you say a word, just know, I’m not alone in this. While there, I took a moment to observe the employees and guests of the corporate tents in attendance. Quite a few were wearing their golf shoes. No, they weren’t playing, but they wanted to feel like they were while walking the course. Oak Hill is an ultra private club, requiring membership or an invitation to play the course. The thinking is similar to that of a kid who brings a glove to a baseball game.

I also noticed the camaraderie displayed between the players. It was extremely refreshing. You see, the major winning paydays occur on the main PGA tour. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like they’re playing for peanuts; but they seem to be having more fun. Despite the grueling challenges the tournament presents. Anytime the US open is involved, the course is set up to separate the great players from the marginally successful.

On Saturday, Jay Haas pitched a shot out of the left rough that ran onto the right side of the green and trickled into the hole for an unlikely birdie. I can just hear famed sportscaster Howard Cosell voice describing the action emphatically. “There! Right there. Perhaps THIS is a sign brought down from the Greek God Zeus as lightning has struck the wedge of one young 55 year old Jay Dean Haas from St Louis, Missouri.” Maybe it WAS a sign as Jay won on Sunday with a score of 7 over par. At once exorcising the demons from his failure at the 1995 Ryder Cup at this very Oak Hill course on the same18th tee. When you overcome that kind of adversity, you should be rewarded. He was. He lifted that trophy with jubilance. I felt for him. We all live vicariously through professional athletes at one time or another. It’s the stuff of legends. That sounded cheesy didn’t it? Oh well.

It’s time to get my clubs out and hit the links. Yes sir. More menial tasks jettisoned by the wayside for a day of joyful frustration chasing a little white ball. Forget the fitness trailer. Golf is my elixir, and I’m ingesting it like nobody’s business. Until next time remember, play it as it lies.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL DADS!!

Spiritual Journey - a message to daughters

07. A Message to My Daughter

So my only child just graduated. Like most parents, I am proud. I think back on her as a baby, a toddler, a young girl, a teen and cannot believe she stands before me a young lady, graduated and now getting ready to go off to college.

On graduation day, my daughter asked me if I had any words of wisdom for her. I, usually ready to jump on my soapbox and preach, was at a loss. What did I want to say? But pride and memories prevented me from saying more than what rang from my heart. I love you and am so proud of you.

Since then, I have thought a lot about what I want to tell my daughter. I want to tell her things that will matter to her, things that will make a difference to her, and things that will sustain her when I cannot be there. This is what I have to tell her.

Be true to yourself - never let others decide the road you must travel. You must live with your choices. You alone live with your failures and successes. At the end of the day, there is nothing worse than regretting the life you lived based on someone else's choices. If you choose your road, you get to learn from any poor choices but you also get to revel in your successes.

Be your own best friend - no one else knows your heart, your desires, your inner secrets as well as you do. Embrace yourself, spend time with yourself, and do for yourself. How can others truly like you if you do not like yourself? How can you give love to others if you do not love yourself? How can you have healthy relationships with others if you do not respect yourself? Put yourself first, in a healthy, positive manner, and you will do well.

Let no man or woman into your life who brings you down - life is hard enough without choosing to spend time with those who make it harder. Also, spending time with people like that just prolongs your own suffering. Friends and lovers are supposed to elevate each other. It is true that there will be hard times. I am not saying that life is easy. But, people who are always down, always miserable, trying to bring you down, not trying to improve their lot, are a drain on your spirit. Try to help them if you can. However, if they choose to remain "wallowers" in the mire of misery, wish them well but be on your way. Instead, seek those who are like you, at least aspiring to happiness.

Fight hard to do the things that are important to you, the things that make you happy - there are only so many hours in a day and days in your life. Spend those hours and days in ways that make you happy, in ways that are meaningful to you. If you do so, your days will be enriched and your memories and moments will be extended by the length, breadth and depth of your dedication.

Stand up for the things you believe in - it will give meaning to your life.

Be aware of those in need and try to bring some sunshine into their days - there will always be those better off than you and worse off than you. Those better off give you something to strive for. Those worse off remind you of where you could be, but for the grace of God. Keeping this in mind will give you a better perspective of your capabilities, possibilities and limitations. And giving back to others less fortunate will remind you what blessings you have yourself. If nothing else, helping others will lighten your load, and brighten your heart, even on the gloomiest of days.

Say thank you - this extra effort adds grace to the giver as well as the receiver. It is an uplifting affirmation that increases positive energy, confidence and well-being.

Say I'm sorry - this helps you as well as the other party to heal. It allows you to reconnect with the person who is hurting. It cleanses both of you and the air. It encourages love, compassion, understanding and personal growth as a human being.

Let go of painful things - clinging to pain prevents you from growing in hope and love. In reality, that is all there is. Why hold on to the very things that stunt your spiritual and personal growth. Besides, everything has its time. Let things go when their time is up. It allows you to make room for new things. Cry and be fully present to the pain in that moment. Tears cleanse the soul and heal the heart. Then, put the pain in a balloon and release it. In setting it free you set yourself free. free to love and hope. Then, look your best, spend time with friends, be attuned to your owns needs and be gentle with your self. You will be OK.

Find time to meditate - it can help you discover peace within yourself. It can help you find happiness in just being alive. If there is no time in your life to meditate at length: take a walk and enjoy nature, take a bath and deeply relax, or just close your eyes and breathe deeply and slowly. Meditation is an unsung hero in the world of self-rejuvenation. Trust me, it will help you in ways you can't even imagine.

Be kind to others - kindness is as much a state of mind as it is an act itself. When practiced, this simple act creates positive karma in your life and helps you find inner strength and peace. Further, when you are kind to others, you learn to be kind to yourself.

Live a good life - refrain from hurting others and yourself. Be a blessing to others and yourself. Don't take anything for granted. Appreciate the worth of everything that you encounter in your life. When you make a mistake; acknowledge it, regret it, understand what caused it, accept that there may be consequences, learn from it, and resolve not to make that same mistake again. Then let it go and be free to move on.

Be patient - keep calm when faced with things outside of your control. When you are patient, you are in a state of allowing. When you are allowing, you open yourself to the good things and blessings that are available and ready for you, even in moments when all you can imagine is pulling your hair out and screaming.

Be mindful - happiness is right now, right here, moment-by-moment, day-by-day. You create it as you go along and therefore it is your choice. When you are mindful, you live the life you are meant to live, you are being true to your inner self and you nourish your soul. When you are mindful, you notice the beauty around you, appreciate moments, and create an opportunity to learn, grow, improve and love.

Make friends and spend time with them - a friend is someone you keep because of who they are and who you are when you are with them. A friend is someone who lifts you up when you are down, who knows all your faults but loves you anyway, is someone you would do anything for, no holes barred and who would do the same for you. The number of friends does not determine happiness in life. It is the quality of the friendships you make and keep. Friendship is the fun you share, the secrets you tell each other and the memories you create together. So make good, true friends and spend time with them. It is the time you spend with them that will nurture your friendships and help them to grow and last.

Spend time with family - they can be your backbone, your strength, your comfort and your support if you let them.

Finally, know I love you.

I always have and always will. I will be here for you in good times and bad. I will share your happiness and hold you when you are in pain. I will be your rock when you need and the voice of reason and honesty when you need that as well. I will never lie to you or let you down. I can be your friend and your confidant, if you need, but I will always be your mother and I will always love you. You can find solace in my arms and a bed in my house. You may be too big to sit on my lap but it is still available, if you need. Yes, I love you my child, my heart, my beautiful daughter. And yet I give you wings to fly and soar and do and be all you can be and do.

GOOD LUCK AND MANY, MANY BLESSINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

DW's Loop

“How can you stay in the Loop, if you aren’t in the Loop?”

By DW

Friday
Project Art 2.0 @ Victor Hotel
311 N. Sangamon St
9pm-2am
Hennessey specials, live painting
No cover before 10
RSVP to info@plsmag.com for guestlist.


Saturday
Have dinner at On Q Club and Hennessy's Steak and Seafood
2300 Bushwood Dr.
Elgin, IL 60124
Upscale dining room, upstairs bar and club where DJs spin hip hop and Top 40 Thursday through Saturday.
http://www.onqclub.com/


Sunday
PLS Magazine hosts soCHIalite @ Chaise Lounge
1840 W. North Ave.
1pm-6pm
Free Hennessy French Iced Tea, Sidecars
100 $10 Akira gift cards
RSVP to info@plsmag.com.


Cocktail for the Week – Hennessy and Apple
Ingredients

• Cocktail Glass
• 1 oz Hennessy cognac
• 3 oz apple juice

Stir ingredients together in a cocktail glass over crushed ice, and serve.

Neonu's Miami Beach Weekend

I recently spent the weekend in Miami to celebrate a friend's birthday and as always it was a wonderful trip. I love long weekends in Miami. Sun, beach, food, drink and fun. That is what I call living. What's not to love...well let's find out.

The Loews Miami Beach Hotel: 5 Stars

This was my second time staying at the hotel and I love it. The rooms are very nice, but it is the service that makes this place special. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Each afternoon in the lobby you can treat yourself to a new flavor of lemonade - complimentary of course. But the pool is the shining star of this hotel. It is a large pool with two hot tubs. There is full towel service, waiters to meet your food and beverage needs, and ample lounge chairs and umbrellas. The bonus is that throughout the day you are served treats like free icees, frozen grapes, and smoothies. If you can, shell out the bucks for the cabana. The extra pampering is worth it.

The Fifth South Beach Night Club: 2.5 Stars

(Friday Night) This is a very spacious two level loft style club. The velvet rope, as expected in Miami, is in full effect so come looking great or carrying lots of cash. The upside was that our bartender was great. Very attentive. The music was OK - standard hip hop/R&B type club music. The crowd was mainly African- American, Florida, Twenty-somethings. I doubt I would return.

Lario's On the Beach: 4 Stars

820 Ocean Drive, 305.532.9577

Lario's (part of singer Gloria Estefan's Cuban restaurant chain) is in the process of changing its name to SOBE (short for south beach) Bongos Cafe. Whatever the name I always like dining here. It is reasonably priced. The food is good. And the live Cuban band is always fun and festive. This is a great place for large groups of people or special occasions. I am personally a fan of the skirt steak and regular mojito. The cerviche was a big hit with my friends. Reservations suggested to avoid a long wait. $$

China Grill Miami Beach: 3 Stars

China Grill started in New York and has now opened locations (with various names) in a number of cities. The food is Asian Contemporary and is served family style. Again, this is a good place for large groups. The food was good. I particularly liked the duck fried rice and the short ribs. However, this is not a restaurant to choose if you plan to have a lot of across the table conversations. House music spins quite loudly while you dine. It took a minute to get used to it, because your mind notes that you are in a restaurant with white tablecloths, but your body tells you it is time to dance. Fast. Different, but I liked it. What I did not like was the service. Our waiter was HORRIBLE. He took advantage of the "gratuity included" in a way that only karma can remedy. It is a very popular restaurant, so reservations are suggested. $$$

Bella Rose: 5 Stars

423 16th St., Miami Beach, 305-673-8634

Destiny found Bella Rose for me. I was walking with friends along Ocean Drive, when one decided he needed a bathroom break at the Hotel Victor. I remembered attending a great party there some years back and decided to check it out while everyone waited for him to return. The Hotel Victor has a great roof deck. When I got upstairs I noticed the DJ was breaking down his equipment. He told me I just missed the party, but that he was on his way to the next spot where he'd be spinning old school hip hop at a local joint. My group decided to stop by and boy are we glad we did. We arrived very late (after midnight) and left very early (it was still dark :)). DJ Self Born had us dancing non-stop to the best old school hip-hop, pop, rock, and R&B until we literally closed the place down. Yes, long after the locals had gone home. The crowd was 20-40 somethings and mainly white.

I do have to add a very important disclaimer. Bella Rose is not just a local spot, it is a hole in the wall. Seriously, it is. But people still dress nicely (neat jeans and tennis are OK) and there is bottle service if you desire. Wear dancing shoes.

Please comment on your thoughts on these Miami spots or others you would recommend or suggest we stay away from.

Dating Dimes* on a Dime in DC

*slang noun in relation to physical beauty in place of a "perfect ten"

By Westmoreland

14. Love or Whatever

There has been feedback. Informed folks have been double-clicking ���Dimes��� and depositing mad love on the Dub. ���Round here, we call that Dub Love. We dig Dub Love. To those relating to the struggle, you are in my heart. Unless you are a dude. (You, obviously, cannot be in my heart if you are dude. But you get my meaning.) So, continue to pay your Comcast/AT&T cable bill, or borrow some unsecured wirelessness (as I do -- because it is free), or hit up the InSite from the computer at work (when the Man is not hovering over your shoulder). I am going to be here until Thanksgiving, at least. So please continue to click through. Dating dimes on a dime is a lonelier business than it looks.

Big love to all who are bent on jamming Benjamins into a brokerage account or buying one more house or sending your babies to the best schools or finishing your PhD or running for President of the United States of America��� I pump my fist for you, Baltimore style. Hone your vision and execute. Every time you are advised that you cannot reach your goals, thank the advisor. They have simply disclosed that they are not qualified to envision your success. Nowadays disclosures are valuable and hard to come by.

Big shout out to my man, Michael P who is holding his wife and little man down with a fresh position in NYC! Do your thing! And a big-smug-elitist-hug goes to Vanessa who is recently tenured and consistently awe-inspiring! She is a featured speaker, here on CSPAN (I am in the audience��� There is a brown speck in a taupe suit in the back. No close up, though. Leave it to C-SPAN to hate from the sidelines). Happy belated birthday to Treva (who is safekeeping my American Express Card). Shalom to Brian. Stack shekels, but more important, be safe. Tranquillo to Roland on baby numero dos! One love and peace to everyone who recognizes reality when it is scrolls across your browser!

Of course there has been some two-cent feedback to ���Dimes.��� George W. Bush and I call these folks Two-Centers. If someone had told me in 2/22/2008 that there would be resistance to one man���s march toward one woman and wholesome wealth, I would have laughed. Actually, I would not have cared. I was pretty depressed. But if 50 Cent can sell records on the theme of fast money and misogyny why would I expect hard feelings reflecting financial austerity and monogamy? What planet am I on?

By sheer serendipity, I met one reader on the opening weekend of the ���Sex in the City.��� She was a cute girl with big beautiful eyes, high cheekbones and perfect skin. She was on her way to the screening in a brown dress. If you threw a rock in DC, on that weekend, you would have hit a woman in a beige or brown or tan dress. Who knows what that browning meant? I am going to suppose that brown is the ���in��� color this year. If you know, and you are dying to provide some explanation in the comments section, restrain yourself. I am not curious in a genuine way.

There were quite a few suburban women in their finest couture clicking around the city in pricey heels and lugging huge empty purses. It was a little bit odd. It was like the opposite of a Star Wars opening. ���Sex in the City��� is, actually ���Star Wars��� for chicks. Is it Science Fiction? Who knows, I didn���t see the movie. But in the same way that the nerds and whackos wear the Stormtrooper costume, hot soccer moms and frumpy coeds dressed themselves as Carrie and her 3 cohorts. It was alienating. Some pull it off, some don���t. I liked the television show, but my corpse would have to be dragged into the theatre for me to go anywhere near that movie.

Anyway, this reader (who is BFF of a friend invited to share a pre-viewing drink) was introduced, and perched herself at the Ruth���s Chris bar conveniently close to the theatre. She asked if I had caught wind of some ���smart remarks��� she had made regarding this correspondence. I wondered aloud, how? I wondered to myself, what for? I proffered cocktails which they accepted. (I may be a touch antisocial, but I am polite.) Three sips in, she looks up at me and declares ���I thought you had facial hair.��� I looked down at an awkwardly balanced lime wedge garnishing a jumble of ice-cubes in my glass of straight vodka. Then I looked at my friend (in her striped brown dress). Who smiled back at me. ���I just pictured you as having facial hair.���

These days, I hate being out on Saturday night. I hate it. I want to be at home teaching my children to read above grade level. But I don���t have any children. So I have idle hands on Saturday nights. There are guys who may envy my single lifestyle. But, being single is mostly about being alone in a way that is not always stylish. And, like the slice of lime in my glass, I tend to find myself in situations where I am somehow straddling inclusion and seclusion.

For 15 weeks, I have shared the intimate cynicism of my colliding financial and love lives in the center of a capital city. One might assume a pattern. If I buy you a drink, you are running a risk of being blogged. If you are rude (or even non-sequitur) in the process of drinking the cocktail I bought, you will be blogged. General note of etiquette: you are not allowed to make remarks or recommendations regarding someone���s physical appearance, unless they are compliments (or invited). Don���t trust me? Google it. Even then, there are constraints on what is acceptable.

Still don���t trust me? Test these phrases at your next opportunity to make a first impression:

���You are black/white.���
���Your breasts are small/large.���
���You are tall/short.���
���You do/do not have a beard.���

I would not expect a woman to have facial hair (and this reader did not). But I did not congratulate her, ���It is awesome that you do not have a goatee!��� I don���t think this young woman appreciated the surreal recursion involved in offering a beard critique to a date critic. So? I won���t blog her. I will only point out that if a man has a laptop, then he probably has an electric razor.

This is what I am dealing with, people. Pray for me.

The cupid comes from this artist��� http://moritat.deviantart.com/art/cupid-15131109

This Week in Chicago

Wednesday, June 11 - August 16

74th Season of Annual Grant Park Music Festival
Each week there will be a wide range of classical music concerts and special events at the state-of-the-art Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and in other select city locations.


Upcoming Concerts:

• Barber and Brahms Wednesday, June 11, 6:30pm
• Beethoven's Missa Solemnis Friday, June 13, 6:30pm
• Beethoven's Missa Solemnis Saturday, June 14, 7:30pm

Click Here for the full schedule and more info.

Thursday, June 12

My Taste of Brazil
Alhambra Palace, 1240 W. Randolph
5pm- 2am



Thursday, June 12-August 24
Chicago Summer Dance Festival
Click here for dance schedule.







Friday, June 13

Bike to Work Rally at Daley Plaza
Join fellow cyclists, former motorists, local media celebrities and the city of Chicago at the Bike to Work Rally.
7:30 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Daley Plaza, 50 West Washington.
At the rally, bikers will receive a FREE continental breakfast and t-shirt while supplies last and will be eligible throughout the day for raffle prizes. There will be food, drink, BMX bike stunt performances, and live music. Free valet bike parking at Daley Plaza from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Professional Afterwork Committee goes to Madd Soul at Cuatro
2030 S. Wabash, 10pm - 2am
Chicago House w/live Latin & Jazz - featuring Micah Frazier on Trumpet
No Cover

SPYBAR Chicago Premiere ReOpening Party

646 N Franklin St
Effen Vodka Specials
10pm

Weekend Festivals
Click here for info.

Oscar De La Hoya
Signing his book American Son at Borders, 150 N. State St.
12:30 pm

This Week in DC

Some dining ideas for Father's Day. Click Here

O's Corner: Mock Tuna (Salmon) Salad

• 2 large hard-boiled eggs to produce about 1/2 cup chopped
• 3 large ribs celery to produce about 1 1/2 cups chopped
• 1 foil pouch (7.1 ounces) boneless, skinless pink salmon (see Cook's notes below)
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons sweet-pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seafood seasoning blend, such as Old Bay (see Cook's notes below)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, optional (see Cook's notes below

Peel eggs and place in a 6-cup or larger mixing bowl. Chop the eggs finely (using 2 knives may help) and add to bowl. Add diced celery. Add the salmon and all the remaining ingredients. (Add dried cherries right before serving) Stir until the salmon is flaked and the salad is well mixed. Serve at once, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Start to finish: 20 minutes. Makes about 3 cups (3 1/2 cups with cherries added).

Per 1/2 cup serving: 121 calories

Cook’s Notes:
Ready-to-eat foil pouches of wild salmon that don't require draining are available at most grocery stores. The exact ounces may vary by brand but a slight variation won't matter. If you can't find seafood seasoning, substitute 1 teaspoon celery salt and 2 dashes hot pepper sauce. Cherry-flavored dried cranberries, such as Craisins, are a good substitute for dried cherries. Golden raisins also work.

Until Next Wednesday, Remember Keep It Simple and Fast.