Isn’t pasta salad kind of a strange thing? Who decided cold pasta could be a picnic staple? I’m generally not a huge fan of it. If I want pasta, I want it served hot, with a spicy marinara sauce, or maybe some garlic bread and olive oil. But I don’t like my pasta salad covered in mayo or Italian salad dressing. Nothing against them, it’s just not my thing.
But now that the temperature is heating up, cold dishes are a little more appealing. After a long walk to the Farmer’s Market (for some fresh parsley and spices), a hot bowl of pasta didn’t sound quite so appetizing. I wanted something chilled, and I had some fresh Feta cheese in the fridge that I needed to use up, so a “pasta salad” dish was born.
The chickpeas make this dish a little more substantial. I used a spice blend that we picked up at the Farmer’s Market, but you can create something similar with a sprinkle of oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, & pepper. I love playing around with spices. I tend to be a little heavy handed on the crushed red pepper, depending on who you ask, but I love spicy things.
I also liked how simple it was to throw all of this together, since we were running on less sleep than my body is used to. On Saturday night, Alex and I went to a “throwback prom” to celebrate RVA Comedy Coalition’s 5 year anniversary, and we were out much later than normal.
We tried to go with a 50′s-ish theme. Doesn’t Alex look like a greaser? (It took a lot of hair gel to make that happen.) It was pretty fun dancing the night away, snapping pictures, in the photo booth, and hanging out with Lindsay & her boyfriend.
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