La ensalada Russa!

Or in Russian it's called "Salat Olivie", think of it as a salad cocktail since to prepare it you mix a whole bunch of ingredients together.

I remember this salad was the "nail of the table" (the dish that stands out) at every family party. Also the hostess was judged by this salad and no one would even DARE to go buy it in the store. This salad had to be done from scratch.

I remember the happy buzz in the kitchen when every single pot was being used and all the dishes were standing and awaiting to be filled with some kind of delicatessen. I would always want to help, but the privilege had to be earned. And many a times my mom would just send me off to sweep the floor somewhere because food preparation was left to the 'professionals'. If I'd get lucky then I'd be allowed to peel stuff.

I remember one day my mom allowed me to chop the vegetables for the grand Olivie. This is just about THE most important task of preparing the salad since everything has to be chopped in perfect little squares so that the salad comes out looking beautiful. I would just NOT breathe as I sliced the potatoes.

In the end I was SO careful that my mom approved my job and later during the party when Grandma (the ultimate authority) complemented my mom on the beautiful Olivie, my mom announced that it was in fact I who made it. Especially as an eight year old I was beyond proud of myself.

Well skip a "few"years and here I am STILL proud :) hehe The salad I made could in no way be places on the party table because I did not hold my breath this time as I chopped and you can see the definite irregularity in size of the sorta-squares, BUT it is definitely yummi!

ingredients: potatoes, carrots, pickles, ham, and pees + pepper and mayonnaise

prepare:

peel the potatoes and boil them

do NOT peel the carrots, boil them, let cool and then peel them

chop all the ingredients in perfect squares - most important task

add the pees and stir in mayonnaise (preferably home made, if you can't be bothered store bought is ok too!)

some pepper and it's all ready

**If you can grab a kid to help you with the salad do! the kid will be forever thrilled I promise.