7:30 p.m. | 2002-09-03 What? Pasta Salad? I have a serious passion for pasta salad at the moment. It�s been going on for at least a week and there�s no indication that this craving is gonna pass soon. (And, no I�m not pregnant.) However, I�ve never been passionate about pasta salad before so it�s rather odd. I eat a regular veggie salad almost everyday because I love vegetables. Pasta is great also, but usually, I only consume it when I go through one of my Italian food cravings. However, I usually eat pasta as a main course � spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti � that kind of thing. Now, for whatever reason, I�m a mad dog about pasta salad. I think that I usually avoid pasta salad because I only eat it at restaurants, and it tends to be rather bland. But recently, when I went to an Italian deli, I ordered pasta salad on impulse. All of a sudden, I really wanted it. And, I must say, they make some great pasta salad. Plus, it�s a nice diversion from my regular side dish of some form of potatoes. (I�ll pause for a moment to let all the anti-carbo people groan and protest.) I really don�t care what anyone thinks, I just want me some pasta salad. So when I went grocery shopping this weekend, I bought a box of Suddenly Salad pasta salad. As I expected, it was very bland so I dressed it up with various fresh veggies, olives and many different seasonings. It�s some great salad now. However, it�s also my breakfast side dish for this week. It goes with my BBQ chicken. Yep, that�s my breakfast for the week � BBQ chicken and pasta salad. Alas, there is no extra pasta salad resting in my frig. Here�s what I learned though: I can make pasta salad all by myself from scratch and it�d taste pretty damned good. After years of snubbing this side dish, I�m now hip to all the usual ingredients and the possibilities. Add to that the fact I love fruit and usually eat fruit everyday. But, all of sudden, I�m not interested in all that unless it�s all cut up fruit-salad style. So, while preparing my food for tomorrow, I diligently cut up my fruit. ** I realize that all this food-related drama is weird/alarming for the following folks: shrinks, people with eating disorders, regular folks, anti-carbo folks, meat and potato eaters, youngsters and, well, a whole lot of others. Rest assured, it�s not that dramatic. One symptom of fibro is food aversions/cravings. So, the fibromites out there that experience the same thing know what I�m talking about. Having fibromyalgia has freed me in so many ways. One of which is that I have no problem with my fickleness when it comes to food. I�m just happy to eat and keep it down. Well, and my peculiar habits don�t affect anyone else. It�s all cool. And, if you have a great pasta salad recipe for me, let me know because who knows how long this craving will last or when it will come back. your thoughts? seed flower