The indoor potluck cookout

Today is the last day of my first week of work down here in Washington DC. So far, things have been going well, both for living in Maryland and working in DC. I haven’t done much actual work yet—being my first week, I’m still really just setting things up and getting the proper access—but my team is great.

I’ve spent much of my time commuting, trying to find the perfect way of getting into work. Tuesday found me taking a route that involved one Metro train and two Metro buses, which got me into the office a mere three hours after I left my house. Three whole hours. I’ve decided to stick with the Metro train, but added a DC Circulator; this brings my commute to under two hours.

Even two hours seems long, as my old commute from home to work was barely forty minutes, and that’s if I walked. I blame Georgetown for not having any Metro train station here. It’s all buses, and if I miss a transfer, it could be over half an hour to the next one.

But let’s focus on the good part of this week: food.

My first week ended with what should have been an outdoor cookout and picnic, but moved into the conference room once we learned the temperatures would soar to 105°F today. (It’s curently 100°F as I write this post.) Since several people were already signed up to bring desserts, I broke out of my usual baking comfort zone to create a delicious and easy cold pasta salad. Last night, I only had to boil water for the pasta, so it was great to make for summer.

Our lovely hodge-podge included not only my pasta salad, but also couscous, tofu salad, potato salad, vegetable plate with pita and hummus, watermelon, strawberries, tomato and spinach pizza, vegetable dumplings, brownies, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and pound cake with roasted stone fruit. There were also a few buckets of fried chicken for the meat-eaters.

It’s easy—and I mean super-easy—to make this salad, but if you’re the kind to like a recipe, here you go. I’d say it’s more of a guideline; add different vegetables, use a different dressing, Take away the olives. Omit the cheese to make it vegan. Whatever. It’s tasty.

Italian seasonings cold pasta salad

Ingredients

• 12 oz box tricolor rotini pasta
• 8 oz yellow sweet corn (about half-bag, frozen), cooked & drained according to instructions
• 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
• 6 oz can small pitted black olives, drained
• 15 oz can chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 16 oz bottle Italian-style salad dressing
• grated parmesan & romano cheese blend

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. I often add a bit of olive oil and seasoned salt to the water while boiling.
2. Drain the pasta, and transfer to a large mixing bowl. While the pasta is still warm, add the corn, tomatoes, olives, and chick peas. Stir to mix thoroughly.
3. Add about a third of the bottle of salad dressing to the pasta. Mix through the salad, and add more dressing as needed. I end up using about half the bottle.
4. Transfer the salad to a serving dish, and sprinkle a bit of the grated cheese on top. Cool completely before serving.

If I’d had more time, I would have used more vegetables, like diced cucumbers. I also normally get a bunch of cherry or grape tomatoes to cut in half for the salad instead of the diced tomatoes, but these work well in a pinch, in addition to being already seasoned.

Vegetarians, take note: some Italian-style dressings are not suitable for vegetarians, as they may contain anchovies or worchestershire sauce. If you’re making the salad vegan, be on the lookout for dressing that may contain hidden cheese.