Last year I made this pasta salad that was sort of a Frankenstein's monster made from a combination of three separate recipes combined in such a way to highlight my own favorite aspects of pasta salads I've had in the past. These amounts are rough, and this is one of those things that should always be tweaked to your own taste, but this is the basics: 2 16oz packages of pasta. I like using a tri-color rotini; it's visually more intersting (and almost patriotic!), and there's a lot of pasta surface area for stuff to cling onto. A few tbsp olive oil 12 green onions, or about 1 1/2 cups once chopped (I like to chop it up pretty fine) 2 6oz jars of kalamata olives, which again gives you about 1 1/2 cups once chopped (and again, chopped pretty fine) 8 eggs, boiled and sliced 12 strips of bacon, fried until very crispy and then crumbled 2 cups mayonnaise (and if you use Miracle Whip instead, you deserve the silent judgement I will pass on you) 1/4 cup mustard (Dijon preferred) 1/4 cup sour cream (this is really optional, and I'm not yet convinced it's necessary) 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp celery seed 1/2 cup malt or white vinegar (more or less, to taste) Cook pasta as directed on package. Run cool water through it to cool it down and toss it with some olive oil to prevent sticking. Throw in the eggs, bacon, onions, and olives and toss until mixed. In a separate bowl, make the dressing: all ingredients from the mayo through the vinegar. Put the vinegar in last, and start with less and keep adding more until it has enough bite for you. I tend to like it on the upper end of that scale. Once the dressing is ready, throw in the onions and olives and mix well. Then put that whole mixture into the pasta and mix all that up until well blended. Note that if it seems too creamy now, that quality WILL disappear once it's been sitting in the fridge for a little while. Let chill for at least a few hours, preferably overnight. Makes a pretty sizeable party bowl's worth of pasta, enough for any potluck, bbq, or reasonably large gathering. **Edited Nov. 18, 2008, after making it for Angel's work potluck and upping most of the quantities.**

Dinner at the kookybites residence tonight: pasta salad with fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes, grilled green peppers, onions and grilled zucchini, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese. Yum!