For the past several years, our neighborhood has a block party for about 30+ families on a Saturday in the Summer. At the block party, the menu consists of the usual hamburgers and hot dogs, appetizers, sides and desserts. The burgers and dogs are bought by the party committee from the monetary donations from the families (this pays for the beer as well.) The appetizers, sides and desserts are supplied by the families separately. One of the first years, I was contemplating on making a classic pasta salad. But, I was not satisfied on just a typical rotini with veggies and a bottle of Italian dressing, so I began my Internet recipe search for ideas. (Side note, I believe that the majority of what is on the Internet is food recipes.) I started my search with different types of pasta shapes, ziti, penne, rigatoni, bowtie, and settled on orzo. Anybody out there know how many types of pasta there are?
I then saw numerous listings for “Mediterranean Orzo Salad” and settled on a recipe off of this website www.jfolse.com, Chef Folse is a famous Cajun and Creole Chef and star of “A Taste of Louisiana” television series. The recipe ingredients are as follows and taken off of the website:
1½ cups uncooked orzo pasta
2 (6 ounce) cans marinated artichoke hearts
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber sliced in half long ways, seeded and sliced
¼ cup yellow bell pepper, small diced
1 red onion, halved and sliced very thinly
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 (2 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
1 cup Italian olive salad, not drained
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
The preparation is simple, all you have to do is just cook the pasta, cut the vegetables, open cans & jars, mix together at let refrigerate for an hour. The dressing for this salad turns out to be the brine from the olive salad & artichoke hearts.
This salad turned out to be a big hit with the neighborhood, so much so that it has been requested every year since the first time I made it. Most times there is none left, but if there is any, my blonde neighbor lays claims to the leftovers.
When asked for the recipe I just directed them to the website. However, after they made it, they said it did not taste the way that mine did. This puzzled me. Did I follow the recipe or did I do something that no one else did when they made this side dish. The one thing that is very important when using feta cheese, that it should go in last right before serving. If it melts, it just makes the salad milky an unappetizing. When I make it, I add it at the end, right before serving and if it is outside in a picnic setting, put the orzo salad on ice.
I was reviewing the ingredients with my redheaded neighbor who asked me “Where did you get the Italian Olive Salad?” I replied at the food store and she replied which one. Either she was crazy or I was an idiot. After more questioning and research, it turned out that I got a jar of “salad olives” and not “Italian olive salad.” Why not, it had the words “olive” and “salad” on it, so I bought it. I know what you are thinking, men do not follow directions. So, I am a man and my wife says that’s all I will every be. The Dog, well he is just a dog. 
Italian Olive salad consists of a mixture of green and black olives, capers, giardiniera (pickled vegetables) and a blend of herbs and spices, and packaged in olive oil. Salad olives are just green olives and pimentos in a brine. I surmise that using the salad olives with the orzo creates a more meatier and simple taste. The Italian olive salad has more chopped ingredients and tends to be more complex in taste. Also, salad olives are less then $2.00 a jar and the Italian Olive Salad is about $8.00 a jar. The Dog is being thrifty.

 
