Macaroni Salad: When I'm not prepared

Yesterday the entire family was invited to a Memorial Day barbecue pool party, only it was overcast and kind of sprinkling.  Our family chose to swim in our local indoor pool as a family and then showered and headed over to the pool party just to enjoy food and conversation.

When we arrived, quite a few children were already in the pool and jacuzzi jumping back and forth and having a blast swimming.  The clouds were grey and the water was definitely cold but they didn't seem to mind.  I thought smugly to myself that I was happy to have swum with Children earlier in a warm pool and could avoid the ice cold bath under grey skies and slightly drizzling skies.

After the meal, as I sat and relaxed and chatted with old friends, Daughter #2 and Daughter #1 came over and asked if they might dip their feet into the pool.  "It's cold.  Just be careful and don't fall in."  As both girls are strong swimmers, I didn't need to worry much and I just let them be.

After a few moments of rest however, I heard a splash, a screech from #1 yelling at #2, and I got up to investigate.  What I found was #2 fully clothed, in the water, trying to stay calm and nonchalant as #1 screeched and worried like a mother hen on the outside.  I walked over calmly, told #1 to calm down, and asked #2 to step out.  As I maintained my calm exterior, because I did not want to alarm #2 into a tantrum, I calmly walked over to a changing area, and stripped off Daughter #2's clothes.  Meanwhile Daughter #1 couldn't stop exclaiming over what had happened and I could tell Daughter #2, who is by nature sensitive and tense, was getting tenser and more upset.  I asked Daughter #1 to leave, and I sat Daughter #2 and laid out some hard facts.

"I have no clothes for you.  Your clothes right now are soaking wet.  I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to do, but for now, you'll have to stay here in the towel until I can figure it out."

In the meanwhile, my head began whirring as I thought of what clothing I had available in the car.  Yoga mat.  Nope.  Teaching bag.  Not likely.  Reusable grocery bags.  Not helpful.  I ran to the car with the thoughts that perhaps, I had stuffed, unbeknownst to me, a pair of underwear and an extra change of clothes somewhere in my vast minivan.  My hunt in the van gave me two sweatshirt tops and a pile of cereal that Son had spilled a couple days prior. Underwear and dry appropriate clothing were nowhere to be found.

I came back holding the sweatshirts and got Daughter to wear her own sweatshirt in lieu of a shirt and whatnot, and I managed to create a fabulous skirt with two side pockets out of Son's sweatshirt, but Daughter #2 balked.  She broke down in tears and said she didn't want to wear it and wanted to go home right then and there.  A part of me was frustrated and the other part was just tired.  I asked her to stay and I walked over to my friend and asked if she might have some clothes that I could borrow.  Fortunately she did and the problem was solved.

When we got in the car to return home, with Daughter #2 wearing borrowed clothing, I asked Children what today's lesson was.  Daughter #2 piped up, "Never lean over a pool."  I added, "When going to a pool party, even if you aren't going to swim, bring a change of clothing anyways."

This macaroni salad was something I had planned to bring to the party but somehow didn't get around to it and instead took Asian Quinoa Salad .  I ended up making this today to satisfy this rather strange and bizarre macaroni salad craving that I've been fighting for a week.  It captured the exact flavors that I was looking for and made me happy to eat it.

Macaroni Salad
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1 lb of macaroni
8 eggs

1 cup of celery, diced (smaller pieces are better)
1 cup of onion, diced
1 cup of dill pickles, diced
¾ to 1 cup of mayonnaise (more if you like it super creamy, less if you like it a bit lighter)

1 teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Cook pasta according to package directions.  Make sure to salt the water.  Drain, rinse and set aside.

Cook eggs.  Place eggs in a heavy saucepan.  Cover fully with water.  Bring to boil.  Once water is boiling, cover pot, turn off heat, and set aside for 10 minutes.  Once 10 minutes have passed, rinse eggs in cold water, and peel.  Chop and set aside.

In a large bowl add drained and cooled macaroni, chopped eggs, celery, onion, and dill pickles.  Add mayonnaise and begin to toss together.  Carefully fold in all the vegetables.  Add more mayonnaise if desired.  Add paprika.  Season with salt and pepper.

Cover and refrigerate.  Before serving, check seasoning one more time.  Season with salt and pepper if necessary and sprinkle a little paprika for color.

Printable recipe

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