In the 1980’s there was a restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, called The Magic Pan.  As I recall it was in the Brookwood Mall.  To me, when I was in my early twenties, it was such a sophisticated place to go even though it was a chain restaurant in a mall!  Spinach salads were very popular back then.  Often, they were served with mandarin oranges, or with mushrooms, or with tarragon scented vinaigrettes.  I really don’t remember what The Magic Pan’s spinach salad was like although I do remember who used to take me there for lunch when I should have been studying but was instead playing hooky and eating crepes and salads and split pea soup.  (By the way the split pea soup was delicious and when I came across a receipt for THAT, I grabbed it – see below).  At any rate, it was the 1980s – so I wore Pappagallo flats, corduroy skirts embroidered with whales, and a perky ponytail.  I was absolutely clueless about pretty much everything and blissfully happy.  And, I have a lot of fond memories of eating spinach salads, crepes and split pea soup at the mall with a certain handsome man.  The same handsome man who introduced me to German wine and Belgian chocolates.  Well.  So, I made this spinach salad the other night and had two big plates of it for dinner.  And I thought a little bit about that particular gentleman.  He had a mustache and he turned out to be a little too dangerous for a girl in knee socks.  But, many years later, it’s a fun little memory.  I’m going to make this split pea soup soon.