A chicken salad tartine with fruit and care on the side

Washington Post

6 hours ago

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In the summer of 2024, I was struggling to make sense of my life as a new mother. Every day was filled with uneasy wonder: How did I get here? What was I doing, and why did this new facet of my life, this ancient human experience, seem impossible?
One day, I remember putting my son in his crib for a nap and feeling so grateful that I could now, finally, lie down in bed and stare at the ceiling. I cried with relief, then guilt, then sadness. Eventually, I wiped away the tears, and, because I knew it might make me feel better, I opened a food delivery app and started to order lunch.
Moments later, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, I found a blue-and-white paper plate holding an open-faced chicken salad sandwich with mango on the side.
Get the recipe: Chicken Salad Tartines
My dear neighbor, a mother of three, had made me lunch. The mango seemed to glow in the dim hallway light, its fragrance mingling with the smell of the pungent, herb-flecked dressing on the chicken. I brought the food back to bed and ate it in blissful silence. Then, I cried again. This time it was out of deep gratitude and love.
I rummaged around for my phone to send my neighbor a thank-you note. She had texted: 'Chicken salad with lots of red onion — because I like it that way, and because when you eat a lot of raw onion people leave you the hell alone!!! ❤️ Love you!'
Just as no two people are the same, no two pregnancies or birthing experiences are the same. Without sufficient support, any mother's individual experience can be extremely isolating. It was only when I started to notice the care other mothers offered to me and each other that I started to feel like maybe, just maybe, I could do this.
For a lot of reasons, I never thought I would become a parent. But here I was, and here, too, I eventually discovered, was a club I now belonged to, one full of generosity and reciprocity, of unspoken care and deep love: motherhood.
Inspired by my neighbor's chicken salad sandwich, here's a recipe for Chicken Salad Tartines. There's red onion and cucumber for crunch and flavor, plus tarragon and lots of lemon. Yogurt and mayonnaise keep it light and creamy. I highly recommend fresh, juicy fruit on the side for a burst of sweetness.
Get the recipe: Chicken Salad Tartines