Mr. Hawthorne's Toss Into The Mix. Thanksgiving-wise.

Now I know everyone must be wondering, "What is Mr. Hawthorne's contribution to the Thanksgiving meal?"

Bless his heart, he does help. He does what he can. For instance, three days ago he made stuffed hard-cooked eggs.

To properly hard-cook an egg, cover the eggs with water, bring to a boil, put a lid on the pan, turn heat off, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Mr. Hawthorne taste-tests as he mixes his ingredients -

smashed yolks, a little mayo, some coarse grained mustard, and sweet relish. Stuff the whites with the yolk mixture and give it some cayenne or paprika on top.

Aren't these pretty?

Of course, these were gone by Turkey day.

Next he's making potato salad.

First he peeled and cooked his potatoes.

Diced potatoes and a stalk of celery, chopped.

Couple of hard-cooked eggs in.

Just the right amount of mayo and a sprinkling of cayenne.

Perfect, creamy potato salad.

I nestled two of the eggs in the potato salad. Lastly, Mr. Hawthorne made a pasta salad. Mr. Hawthorne's Pasta Salad 2 cups pasta shells, cooked, rinsed, and drained 1/3 cup diced celery 1/4 cup minced red onion 1/4 cup diced cucumber 1/2 cup tomato, diced 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 TB fresh parsley 3/4 tsp dried mustard 1 1/2 tsp sugar 1 1/2 TB cider vinegar 3 TB sour cream 1/2 tsp Kosher salt freshly ground black pepper Combine the pasta, celery, onion, parsley, and tomato. Prepare the dressing: whisk together the mayo, mustard, sugar, vinegar, sour cream. Pour dressing over salad and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. And that, my friends, is Mr. Hawthorne's contribution to our holiday meal. He's feeling quite proud of himself. Kinda like he just found a cure for cancer.

Mr. Hawthorne's Pasta Salad.

After slaving over a hot computer at work all day, Mr. Hawthorne finally made his way back to Casa Hawthorne and Little Wifey Mouse. He made one of his favorite pasta salads for supper, adapted from Dee Dea's recipe. Thanks, DD!

This only gets better after time. The flavors meld together and the dressing gets a bit thicker. Wish I still had my tarragon plants. ThankyouverymuchIrene. Fresh tarragon would have been great in this. Mr. Hawthorne, you should have put some fresh parsley in. Yeah. I know. You.Don't.Know.Where.The.Parsley.Is. le sigh Note to Mr. Hawthorne: The parsley is FREAKIN' EVERYWHERE!

Mr. Hawthorne cooked noodle shells in salted water.

Then he chopped up some tomatoes, red onion, and English hothouse cucumber. I've found that these cucumbers last longer in the fridge than the regular waxed cukes.

He added celery stalk and chopped.

Mr. Hawthorne's Dressing (which tastes a lot like the creamy dip they give you at Plaza Azteca in Kill Devil Hills along with the salsa for the tortilla chips): 1/2 cup mayo 3 TB sour cream 1 TB cider vinegar 1 TB cream 2 tsp dried mustard 2 tsp sugar freshly ground pepper, to taste freshly ground salt, to taste

Dressing, celery, cucumber, red onion, tomato, and pasta, al dente.

Pour dressing over pasta and vegetables.

Mix well.

I'd give this 4 whoots on a 5-whoot pasta scale.

This is a quick dish, light and refreshing. Love the fresh veggies and the tart dressing.