Embellishment

Chunks of chicken - check.

Chunks of cantaloupe - check.

Onions, in this case scallions - check

Dijon mustard - check

Mayo - check

I was making Cookiecrumb's chicken salad with cantaloupe and salivating, just thinking about that dinner.

Then, when I was assembling the salad, I went off the rails a bit.

I got to thinking about what a wonderful funk curry would add to the sweet melon and onion shtick, so I went there, too. I tossed all this stuff together in a bowl and spooned out onto lettuce leaves the best chicken salad I've ever made.

Then, I got to thinking about those goat cheese curds that I had in the fridge and couldn't resist crumbling just a few on each portion, to point up the sweet melon with a lively bite of pure goatness.

Cookiecrumb's salad was a lily that didn't need gilding, but I did it anyway and we literally inhaled it. Either way, you gotta try chicken cantaloupe salad before the melons are just a sweet memory.