Wash and tear lettuce into bite-size pieces. Add oranges. Add enough olive oil to wet greens and toss well. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and sprinkle with walnuts.

Note: If taking to a potluck, wait to toss with olive oil and keep walnuts in a small bag until ready to serve.

The flavor of oranges, cinnamon, and honey makes this recipe a perennial favorite in the dead of winter. I am repeatedly asked to bring this salad and it is extremely easy to make.

Mandarin Orange Salad and gingerbread cookies in hand, I walked into Marybeth’s house in its customary Christmas club dress: lights twinkling, candles glowing, her table laden with plates of veggies and fruit, cheese and crackers, shrimp and sushi. Carrot soup simmered on the stove, the Brie en croûte was already half devoured. I placed the salad on the table. Marybeth and I planned to surprise all of the members with copies of our cook-book—but I soon discovered I had a surprise of my own.

In the living room was a new guest, a woman who resembled my friend Daphne in facial structure, smile, and aura. I was astounded to learn that this woman was my surprise: Daphne’s long-lost sister, Melanie! A fantastic chain of events had resulted in this miracle. I used parts of Daphne’s life in my character Charlene, and thanked her in the acknowledgments. Melanie’s book club picked the novel as their selection. When she came to the acknowledgments she saw her sister’s name, now hyphenated. Meanwhile, a reporter mentioned Daphne’s name in an article and Melanie, who had searched for Daphne every holiday season, was at last able to find her on the Internet. Melanie reached one of her and Daphne’s relatives, who passed her Melanie’s number.

Melanie was driving when her cell phone rang. She immediately recognized Daphne’s voice. Within minutes, the two were bawling, as Melanie described how losing Daphne meant living with an ache in her heart while Daphne spent her adult life aware she had siblings, but unable to find them. Each of them, one in New York State, the other in Oklahoma, pulled to the shoulder of their respective highways and talked and cried. My novel had reunited these two sisters after twenty-five years of separation, and tonight Melanie was here to enjoy the party and rejoice at being with her sister.