The Curious Case of Celery In Macaroni Salad

This weekend we celebrate our country's independence. It's the 4th of July weekend, and hopefully you will get to kick back and relax for a long three 3 day weekend, while celebrating with whatever plans you have.

I will be back at my campground, where the three days will be filled with activities including fireworks and my favorite golf cart parade. I've already purchased several American flags and 4th of July type decorations to cover my golf cart with. It's a lot of fun for us campers as we pass by all the campers cheering us on. Makes you feel proud to be an American.

I will of course be barbequing throughout the weekend. I think spiedies will be on the wood pellet grill. Looking forward to trying out a new flavor of wood pellets. To go with those delicious spiedies, will be a nice macaroni salad among other items. And here's where my wife and I have a disagreement.

In my opinion, celery has no place in macaroni salad. My wife disagrees and since she is the person who makes macaroni salad in my family, in goes the celery. She says it gives it a crunch and added flavor. I don't like celery, and I don't want to have pieces of crunchy celery buried in my spoonful of macaroni, egg, a touch of mustard and mayonnaise. Unfortunately, I lose that battle, so I pick out the celery pieces. And by the way, the macaroni needs to be elbow macaroni, nothing else.

And while we're on the subject, there are some other no-no's I believe in when it comes to cook-outs. I know I will get hate mail for this, but I prefer ketchup to mustard on hot dogs, unless it's a chili dog, then mustard is acceptable. I don't like mustard on hamburgers either. It has to be ketchup or a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise.

Finally, spiedie sandwiches are a slice of Italian bread and spiedies. That's it. Although one of our local spiedie shops serves up a spiedie sandwich with cheese and mushrooms. That is delicious. Happy 4th of July...with or without celery.