March 7, 2011
March 1st was Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary. To celebrate, people hosted House Parties around the world. In Kazakhstan, we did "House Parties" Kazakh style. In other words, we had teatime at our worksites.
"Tea" really means "meal without meat" (and sometimes there is meat.)
We all know what a phenomenal cook I am (*ahem, sarcasm*) so this was a promising endeavor. In an effort to keep it low-key (and spare myself from any kitchen catastrophes), I decided to make pasta salad as one of the "American" dishes. Easy, right? I googled: "Simple pasta salad" to find a Kazakhstan-friendly recipe and these are the kind of ingredients I came up with:
"New and zesty pasta salad," "frozen vegetables," "dried oregano," "Wishbone Italian dressing," "Bermuda onion."
What in the world?!?! I live in a village in KAZAKHSTAN. Please tell me, where will I find frozen vegetables, Italian dressing, or a Bermuda onion? (whatever that is!)
I decided to do my own thing. Pasta, vegetables, and herbs. Done. Not exactly what cooks.com had in mind, but I think it did the trick. Tasted like pasta salad to me.
I bet your pasta salad was better than the one for which you found a recipe. How did it turn out? Happy 50th Anniversary, Peace Corps! :)
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