Friday Friend Recipe #185 -- Strawberry Spinach Salad

Making my way thru my Friday Friend Cookbook, one recipe at a time.

What is the Friday Friend cookbook: I have about 50 of my closest friends and family on an e-mail forum which I called the Friday Friends (from all over the county). At first, most of them didn't know each other, (they knew me) but over the past 18 years, we've answered and shared silly--and serious---questions, exchanged Secret Santa Christmas gifts, had a dieting contest in which we paid a $1 a week and that money went to a scholarship fund for a Friday Friends son's memorial scholarship, and we went on a great vacation for my 52 birthday.

AND, we contributed recipes for a cookbook.

I was looking at the cookbook the other night and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."
The Handyman--who knows me better than I know myself (this happened to be a question on the Friday Friend forum once---does your spouse/partner know you better than you know yourself?)--said,  "you'll never, EVER do that."
WELL---maybe I'll show him!  Maybe I will.

Which brings me to this... recipes #185

Georgann's Strawberry Spinach Salad

Salads are the hardest thing to take pictures of--EVER.

Pay no attention to Barb's name on top of the recipe---bad editing on my part. 

This is Georgann's salad!

I don't have many pictures of Georgann.  No cell phone 20ish years ago---man it's been that long since I worked along side her in the elementary school library.  Wow--time flies!

She sent me this one of herself and a couple grandchildren in a Christmas card a couple of years ago.

When we were working together, the school district sent all of the librarians and their aides to the California Young Readers Award Conference in Oakland, CA.  

The AIDES!!

It was glorious -- the best thing being that at dinner I was seated next to Zilpha Keatly Snyder. She is the author of 3 Newberry Books, but my very favorite was a book called The Changeling.

I loved that book and when I told her so... she said  "ahhh. You're one of those."  I wasn't sure what she meant, but I was so excited to be one of those!!  

I loved that book..... Ivy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family, which lived in a run-down house in suburban Rosewood. But Ivy was not a typical Carson. There was something wonderful about her. Ivy explained it by saying that she was a changeling, a child of supernatural parents who had been exchanged for the real Ivy Carson at birth. This classic book was first published in 1970. It was awarded a Christopher Medal and named an outstanding book for young people by the Junior Library Guild.

Georgann and I were lucky to go on many book buying adventures and other conferences together in the 4 years we worked together.  I loved every one of them, but this trip was the most stand-out for me!