Monday, August 17, 2009

pickles!

I have ambitions of becoming a domestic goddess, but the reality is that I am pretty challenged in that area. My dishes sometimes go unwashed, and my floors could use a more regular sweep... luckily I married a man who is more concerned with spending quality time with me, than having an impeccable house!

And so today, on a rare day off from work, instead of dusting, ironing, or de-cluttering, I delved into this wonderful book, and made my first ever batch of pickles!



I was really surprised at how easy the whole process was, and I do have to pat myself on the back for not biting off more than I can chew. I only purchased a few cucumbers (rather than the 20lb bag that looked so inviting at my local growers outlet), and I made sure to inventory my spice cupboard before I went shopping - I only had to end up buy fresh dill and mustard seeds. (on a side note - I LOVE my growers outlet... they are actually cheaper than the uber trendy farmer's markets, are so local that many of the farms are in my neighborhood, and I can go 6 days a week if I want to!!)



It took about 5 minutes total, and the hardest part had to be slicing the cucumbers! I even got crazy and tried pickling some of my green tomatoes.


I can hardly wait the three days until they are ready!





And look who I found enjoying the garden.


Beautiful no?

5 comments:

Alissa said...

You go girl! I have a friend back home who loves pickling and canning. He made pickled asparagus the last 2 summers. He also has made cherry rhubarb jam. It's awesome!

Let me know how your first batch comes out.

Is that Dill I spy?!

David said...

pickles! yaayyyyy! yumbo tumbo mcFunzo! Victoria, keep on pickling, for it is a sacred and healing art form; highly edible and delightful. In fact the ancient ones once said,

"To pickle is to ponder the principles of purity"

Nutty Gnome said...

It's addictive, be careful!
Over the past couple of years I've made rhubarb jam, raspberry jam,redcurrant jam, blackcrrant jam, redcurrant jelly, gooseberry jam, green tomato chutney, Dowerhouse chutney, pickled onions, pickled cucmbers and damson gin, sloe gin, redcurrant vodka and redcurrant gin!
Great fun, dead easy and it all tastes so much better than the mass-produced stuff with loads of added rubbish! :)

Mrs Robinson said...

Oh! Nutty Gnome... you are so inspiring!

Nutty Gnome said...

Haha - I don't know about inspiring, but I do love my food!
I've just finished making a batch of lemon curd - SERIOUSLY good on home made bread (well, via the breadmaker)when it's still warm....