It is 85 degrees here today, still comfortable with the breeze really, unless you are driving in my car. Ol' Bessie, as I affectionately refer to her, has decided that I really don't need enjoy the comforts of air conditioning as much as I once did so it is quite toasty when I'm out running errands. Suffice it to say, that if I decide to purchase frozen goods, or fresh spinach, I make a run to the store in the cool evenings. It really does cut down on the cartons of melted cream and the wilted greens!
Warm summer days remind me of big gardens and all the fresh produce that they yield. Since my yard is the size of a postage stamp, I've resorted to container gardening. It's all I really have time for anyway!
Look at my jalapeno pepper plant …
Isn't that the perfect bright yellow pot for a jalapeno? I thought so, too. And that's a grape tomato plant behind it in the boring pot with little to no color.
Garden or no garden, I have been thinking that I want to make pickles. I remember eating homemade pickles at my grandma's house and Mom making them in the summers when we had gardens. I mostly remember the large gi-nor-mous garden we had when I was in 5th and 6th grades. I'm telling you, no joke … that thing rivaled a small ranch farm! Mom put up 150 quarts of green beans that summer! AND she gave birth on August 3rd to her 5th child. She is one amazing chick!
I encountered some problems as I thought about making pickles so I tried to come up with some solutions.
Problem #1: No garden. Solution: Go to farmers' market and buy cucumbers.
Problem #2: What kind of cukes are best? Does it depend on what kind of pickles you want to make? Solution: Ask Mom.
Problem #3: If I'm going to the trouble of making pickles (is it REALLY trouble? Well, yeah, more so than hopping in the car and trucking it down to the grocery store!), I want to be sure that they are dang good when I'm done. Solution: Ask for Mom's recipe.
Problem #4: If the only recipes Mom has are for sweet pickles, or bread-and-butter pickles, who can tell me how to make Dill Pickles, the pickle of choice in our house? Solution: Ask Mom.
Problem #5: Mom is miles and miles away. No, I mean, thousands of miles. What if I need help? Solution: Use your cell phone to call her and Cowgirl Up! You can do this!!
For the moment, I'm off to call Mom and make sure she checks in on my blog … I have a feeling she will have answers. She usually does.
(Mom, don't feel that you have to answer here … you can call me or e-mail!)
