making it my own--tuna salad

i remember many a times me sitting on an ordinary stool, in an ordinary house, with ordinary people, eating an ordinary meal. a meal that i ate many a times before and would so again and again and again. 

my nana made this tuna salad that for some reason rocked my world. almost as much as her ham sandwiches, her chocolate chip cookies and even her carrot cake. you know there are just some things certain people just make that are so much better than others or anything you could make for that matter? 
well, that was my nana. her tuna salad...it was simple. nothing fancy or involved. my cousin liked to sprinkle seasoned salt on it, but i liked it just as it was. the way she made it.

i've attempted to recreate it since then, but like i said, there are some things only those people can make the way you really like. i gave up a long time ago trying to fix it even slightly similar so these days my life, where tuna salad is involved, looks more like this. 

whole wheat spiral noodles

one can of tuna

1/4 yellow/orange/red pepper chopped

hand full of slice black olives

1/2 diced tomato

1/2 diced avocado

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp mayo

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

mix it up and enjoy. that's what i did. i love it because i can add whatever and it'll hopefully be just as good....like edamame. mmm. 

it's far from her recipe. far from the ordinary tuna salad i grew up with. but with each year that passes, i'm coming into my own element and finding that some times i have to make it my own. who knows, maybe my girls will sit at our ordinary stools and enjoy an ordinary tuna salad hoping to one day be able to recreate such an ordinary delight. just like i did.

Happy Tuesday.