TGIF Veggie Noodle Salad to Accompany Johnsonville Brats

            Do you ever have a time when a friend calls you up and says you need to hang out for the night?  Today I did and I am so happy I said, “come on over.”  Christine, a friend from Aquinas College, texted me as I was driving home from my Friday afternoon class, asking if we were hanging out this weekend.  I asked Brian if we should have company tonight.  Sometimes we are so bogged down with homework that the idea of company sounds like more energy than I am willing to expend, but we need to take time for friends.  Christine and I had the big idea to go to Sally’s Beauty Supply, and buy a special hair color for her a new fall look.  After two hours of dying hair, rinsing, and conditioning, Christine walked out of the bathroom with the most beautiful deep brown with red highlights.  Looking at her, I did long for my younger days when I could still dye my hair dark and not worry about the gray frame around face at the hair line, with comes within a week.  I loved my original dark chocolate hair, but those days are gone.  Now I naturally have a white patch on the front, in the center of my head.  The rest of my head is so gray, that the thought of letting it go natural is just a passing one.  My head is committed to a thirty day dying cycle for the duration, or I suppose at least until all of my hair turns white.

Before all of our dying fun started we needed to eat, so we dug into some Johnsonville Brats, which are always a treat.  The BBQ did not work out as well as usual; due to the cheaper briquettes we had left that refused to burn properly.  Eventually, our dinner was a success, in spite of the increased cook time, even with my pyramid method of making fire.  The moral of the story is to always buy good briquettes, as the modest savings is not worth the hassle.  In addition to the brats, we ate a noodle salad with home-made dressing.

            TGIF Veggie Noodle Salad to Accompany Johnsonville Brats

            Prepare one bag of bow tie noodles.  After they are cooked set them aside.  Next, chop up broccoli, onions, two carrots, green pepper and crushed garlic.  Put these into a large bowl and add the noodles.  Now add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Italian seasoning, some sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir all the ingredients in a large bowl.  Just before serving, make sure that the salad is tossed to mix the dressing.  After served, add Parmesan cheese.  Eat and enjoy!