Pasta Memories

My mother made multicolored fusilli when we were kids and I was very afraid of eating the green pasta. I left a small pile of green curlicues when I finished eating.

My friend Debbie taught me to cook spaghetti at her house when no one else was home yet. We were in the sixth or seventh grade, and the stove was a mystery to me -- boiling water intimidated. I was in awe that she knew how to use a colander and heat up sauce. You mean....kids could cook?

For a long, long time, I ate pad thai a few times a week for dinner from a delicious restaurant a block away from home. I still know the exact price of vegetarian pad thai with tofu. The owner gave me ice water while I waited to pick it up. This restaurant fed us when we worked late, a blessing really. And then one day, I just couldn't eat it anymore. Now I want my noodles home cooked, my tofu baked instead of fried.

I know, how is it possible I have a blog about carbs and I have not yet written about pasta? I'll tell you why. My husband -- though a real smartie-pants -- thinks pasta cannot possibly be good for you. Despite the years of eating pad thai!

Anyway, here is something like a dish I ate as a kid. I use bowtie pasta instead of fusilli (to avoid the scary green pasta, of course).

Pasta Salad:

Cook your bowtie pasta (or any shape you find aesthetically pleasing). Mix with raw broccoli, diced onion (I used a yellow onion but red is prettier), black olives, and garbanzo beans -- eyeball the amounts, depending on how much broccoli you like and how much pasta you have made. Toss in dressing (this serves enough pasta for 2): 2 T olive juice, 1 T olive oil, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 and 1/2 T orange juice, 1/4 t basil, 1/4 t oregano, pepper to taste.

Other ideas for pasta salad: bell pepper, cheddar cheese. Hm, any other ideas? Bueller?

(***In other news, my husband Jake confessed that he voted five times for more potato recipes in my poll to the right. Cheating! This reminds me of when I submitted my photo to http://howoldareyou.net and then voted on my own age several times, lowballing it quite a bit).

Pretty olives and Bowtie Pasta: