December 30, 2011
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#WinterSH13 pickles and puzzles and procrastination
The other day I was having a conversation with a friend about pickles. Yes, really. This friend was all kinds of impressed because I make my own pickles. Let me tell you all about homemade pickles. First of all, it’s not all that hard. The hardest part was figuring out where I put the recipe. I ended up looking online again. Pickles are forgiving as well. Because the directions tell you exactly what to do with ice and timing and so on, but you don’t really have to follow those directions to the letter. Thank goodness, because I have a short attention span and I’m not really all that great at following directions. Second, it’s pretty darn cheap. Because I can go to the Amish farmer’s market, tell them I need pickling cucumbers, and then they go in the secret place and bring out an enormous box of cucumbers for $8. This box of cucumbers is enough to keep me whining about the endless pickle project for days. (refer back to short attention span.) Third, and most importantly…
These pickles are the best pickles in the history of pickles!! Now, I’m usually a sweet gherkin kind of girl. But one bite of these homemade dill babies and I never looked back. You can’t make me buy Vlasic. And I’m not alone in my opinion. I’ve taken my pickles to potlucks and people don’t roll their eyes. The first summer I made them, my little pickle girl (littleloudone could live on pickles) and I were so excited. These pickles are supposed to cure (or whatever it is) for 2 months. TWO MONTHS!!! LLO and I made it a week before we absolutely had to open a jar. And we ate the whole thing. They were so good. Admittedly, they are even better after the full 2 months. The first summer’s bounty was gone before January. This summer’s bounty is still around. Because we have forbidden LLO to bring them upstairs. We’ve been stingy with the jars.
Notice the yumminess of these pickles. See the garlic? Oh my golly. The garlic is the best part. I don’t allow anyone to touch my garlic. I’m not sure why I don’t put more garlic in. Or can just pickled garlic for that matter. Because…
yum.
Yup. Pickles. We have a thing for pickles.
Puzzles. Another matter. The other day, good friends emailed begging for help with a really difficult puzzle. What could I do? I had to cart the whole family over for puzzling. I’m that kind of humanitarian. It was, in fact, a really difficult puzzle. And we made very little headway on it. All these dark Christmas ornaments. 1000 piece jobber too. But it was a lovely 2 hours that turned into 4 hours and included leftovers from their Christmas Eve party. Yum. and Beatles Rock Band. Where I displayed my prowess on the fake guitar and read the words to I am the walrus for the first time ever (and got laughed at for that). And then there was the puzzle at the in-laws. Another really hard 1000 piece puzzle. (I swear that woman hates me.) Which we had to finish before we left. Because the puzzle must be finished. So we left 2 hours after I planned on leaving, which was already 4 hours past when I needed to leave. We did finish. I did take a picture, but I messed up and didn’t actually send it to myself. Sigh. So you can’t see the proof that it was finished.
Procrastination. A fact of life. I had a simple form I need to submit to the grad school by Dec. 31. I put it off until the beginning of December. Then looked at the email and read that I had until the end of December, so I put it off a week. The next week, I read the email again and read that I could do it online so I put it off another week. So I looked at it the other day and tried to find the form online only to discover that the email says absolutely nothing about the form being online- I need to contact the grad school to do the form. Big problem. Because the whole university is closed this week. So, here I sit. Needing to fill out a form or I will lose the credits I took before I finally stopped procrastinating and applied to the grad school, but I can’t fill out the form because I procrastinated. I’d like to smack myself upside the head for being so stupid, but I’d rather put it off until tomorrow.
Comments (12)
Wow you’re one busy lady O.o those pickles look so delicious, congrats!
You should just major in pickles.
@xXxlovelylollipop - i need one. right now. @lanney - genius idea. might just do that. who wants to go to grad school anyhow.
no, I make the best pickles in the world because I make them dill and then I add a few jalapenos to each jar when I can them and then my pickles get nice and hot and sour.
@godfatherofgreenbay - oooh baby.
also this year I made dill green beans
PICKLES !!!!
mmmm…. garlic.
@godfatherofgreenbay - i hate green beans. @roscoes_farm - so good. you just have no idea.
ah, yes. Procrastination. I can tomato relish with my mother in the summers but I haven’t done pickles. She does sweet pickles which I have to admit I find nauseating. I want to pickle beets. I’m going to get a recipe and do them, some time soon. I could eat pickled beets three times a day with a side of coffee, tea or wine depending on which time of day. And naturally I love puzzles. You can probably imagine how much I love jigsaws. I love them so much no one puts them out anymore because they know I’ll crawl into a jigsaw hole and not come out until it’s done.
@ordinarybutloud - oh my gosh. pickled beets. i love them too!! in fact, i suddenly need to go to the store immediately. and i need to make a mental note that i must pickle beets this summer. must.
i have another 1000 piece holiday puzzle. looking for someone to do it with…..
probably what i’m doing with a kid and an annoying kitten on new year’s day.
I’ve never made pickles, though I plan to this summer. Maybe you will share your recipe? I do make pickled garlic, often and in great quantities. Such a pain in the butt to peel all those cloves, but so worth it in the end
@lilies_of_snow - i’m drooling now. for the garlic. i will share my pickle recipe. i just gotta find it again. ha ha.