Spring. Yes. Since the cold snap I was whining about, I've moved, worked my butt off (on the treadmill and at the office), picked up a bunch of freelance work, and spring happened. Now it's summer! How does time do this to me?
I'm back and I'm bringing pickles. Fresh, crunchy, refrigerator pickles--let's call them frickles because why not? Please don't be intimidated. They're so easy to make. A week or two ago I had to whip something BBQ-appropriate up to contribute to a company BBQ on a day that I would be spending the morning doing this:
(weekend job). Pickles were surprisingly the perfect solution. Think about it. Who doesn't love pickles? And they're so much more fun and unusual than hot dog buns. (Don't worry, we had plenty.)
Here's how you make them: quarter some smaller cucumbers. Shove them into any container you have (I shamelessly used a Chinese food soup container) with some fresh dill, some garlic cloves, and some spices (I used dill seed, mustard seed, coriander seed, hot pepper flakes, celery seed, and peppercorns, about 1/2 teaspoon each). Then mix up 1 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 tablespoon sugar. Pour it into the container and you're done!
Now, if you want things to be a little more interesting, you can chop up a jalapeno and throw it into the mix.
These pickles got spicier and spicier as they sat in the fridge! We might be trying habaneros next time.
What I'm trying to say is: be careful if you have a pickle craving anywhere near my fridge. Some of them may bite back.
