He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
- 1 Kings 4:33-34
The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place.
- Nehemiah 3:3
He turned their waters into blood,
causing their fish to die.
Their land teemed with frogs,
which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
- Psalm 105:29-31
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.
- Ecclesiastes 9:12
Okay, these were an eclectic selection of verses. Solomon was an expert on a lot of subjects, one being the fish of the sea. Fish was so important that a gate in Jerusalem was named the Fish Gate, probably where the fish came from. The first plague of Egypt was turning the water into blood, but don’t forget that when that happened, the fish died. And just as when a fish can be caught in a net, unexpectedly, evil can sneak up on us.
I have never written a post that might be a recipe, or at least I cannot remember one. And this one will not qualify.
My wife often made a tuna salad. I probably make them much more often than she did. She believed in variety. Once she had a winner of a meal, you should not expect it again for months, maybe not for another year. But tuna salad meant that she had not gone to the grocery store and we were running low, or it was hot and she did not want to turn the oven on.
Her recipe was two cans of tuna (canned in water), mayonnaise to make it on the edge of creamy, celery seed and diced pickled (usually bread and butter).
But maybe ten years ago, she started to add bits of apple.
I told my son in Tennessee about the apple addition, and he turned up his nose. He likes things super spicy and tuna salad traditionally does not fit.
But that is the point of this post.
Tuna salad can become whatever you want it to become.
Since I fix food for myself and tuna salad takes maybe ten minutes to cut, chop and mix ingredients, it will give me at least four meals, maybe more, and I do not need to heat anything in the oven or microwave.
Before my wife’s passing, I made tuna salad with a dash of cayenne pepper. My wife did not like the slight kick. Odd, she loved spicey food, but I guess she did not like her tuna salad to be spicey. But you could add hot peppers instead of the chopped pickles. You could add onion and garlic (but they cause my IBS issues). The point is that you can add whatever you like.
Thus, tuna salad becomes whatever you like, as long as you like tuna from a can.
I like it sweet. When I make it, I start with two cans of tuna. I add enough mayonnaise to make it creamy. I have never added cottage cheese or sour cream to make it creamier. I might put about a teaspoon of celery seed, but I measure nothing. After all, this is to taste. I will then chop a half dozen sweet gerkins (depending on size), a half dozen baby carrots (depending on size), and maybe about a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish. Then a splash of gerkin juice. Then two Pink Lady apples, thinly sliced, but then chopped. The gerkins and carrots are cut to make coins, but not as thin as the apples. The apples fall apart when mixing, but too thick and the salad gets too lumpy (in case you make sandwiches). The last two times, I have added fresh radishes for a different aspect of flavor. But I have not found enough radishes to get that pop that I wanted.
The last time, the one pictured above, I ran out of mayonnaise when it was barely workable. I added Arby’s horsey sauce. It is mild horseradish to start with and with the other ingredients, it was like adding more mayonnaise.
My point in this is that a simple dish, that can be made into a sandwich, lettuce roll, stuffed into a tomato or pepper, or simply in a bowl all by itself, can be different every time you make it, whatever your tastebuds want that day.
And if one veggie does not seem to work, use something else the next time. I like the carrots and pickles large enough to produce a crunch, but I could slice them thinner.
God gave us a lot of edible things out there. We can make the simple, and sometimes boring, foods more interesting. We do not need to be stuck in a rut.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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