Steel Magnolias

Remember that movie with the amazing cast? Let's see, it included Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. Oh yeah, there were also some men in supporting roles (Tom Skerritt, Sam Shephard and Dylan McDermott), but this is really a chick flick.

Dolly Parton's character, Truvy, owns a beauty salon, where the ladies spend a great deal of time getting their hair done, like for Shelby's wedding in the beginning ("Runaway Bride" star, Julia Roberts, actually makes it down the isle in this one), as well as chatting about the local gossip (usually involving each others happiness and heartbreak).

I would've blogged about who knows what on Tuesday, but I was having a "Steel Magnolia" moment of my own. You see, my youngest sister, who will be leaving for college this weekend, had us all lined up for haircuts before the big move (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that she cuts hair; my mom even set up an in-home beauty salon in her basement, also referred to as "Curl Up & Dye").

It was bittersweet to get together one last time for a girls' day, complete with hair cutting, styling, in my mom's case, coloring, and of course, tons of chitchatting. Even my grandfather got a turn, although I think he managed to block out most of the conversation.

I got my hair done first, but I stayed for a while just to visit. Since I hadn't planned on eating lunch there, I tied myself over with some farm fresh peaches from a nearby stand. Yum. They reminded me of the juicy ones my mom and I picked up at the farmers market in Ocean City, where we also purchased matching t-shirts as souvenirs (they make great beach cover-ups).

When I got home, I continued to reminisce about the beach with a salad I made a few times on vacation. You could barely see the lettuce sticking out beneath a nice pile of cucumbers, orange tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries. I just love that combination.

Still left with some berries (I don't know how I got so lucky), I decided to sprinkle them in between thick layers of raw chocolate pudding (something Lauren inspired me to whip up again after she requested some tried and true ideas for making one). I'm embarrassed to say I ate this for dinner that night, but that's the beauty of being raw; you can disguise a lot of nutrition in something that looks and tastes like dessert.

This pudding contains a banana, half an avocado, a small ripe pear, a spoonful of coconut butter, some cocoa powder, vanilla and sea salt. Gotta love it :-)