Baldur

I added lots of food color to the vinegar in one and only a couple drops to the other. So they are different shades of emerald.

Baldur

This morning Baldur had to deal with a plethora of cucumbers.
There were really not enough to make pickles and the Widow Kilduff next door was just gifted with a sackful yesterday.
So I made a cold marinated side dish, rather what like my evil and deceased ex-mother-in-law used to call summer pickles.
Her concept was to save the brine from store bought pickles and use it to marinate cucumbers when the garden was producing plenty.
They marinated for a couple hours at most and she reused the marinade over and over until any flavor it had was only a distant memory.
When Baldur first encountered her 'summer pickles' it was the summer of 1982, the brine had been in use since 1954.

Baldur

This morning Baldur chose a large eggplant colored Fiestaware mixing bowl and filled it with sliced cucumbers. I prepared the cucumbers by washing them and rubbing off the little spines. Then the ends were cut off and with a vegetable peeler strips of skin were removed leaving a nice striped effect.
Then ther cucumbers were halved and any that had large tough seeds were deseeded, the small seeded ones were left as is.
Then i sliced them all rather thin.

Baldur

To the sliced cucumber I added about 1/3 of a whole lemon sliced into paper thin rounds, a good sprinkling of celery seed, some freshly ground black pepper, a couple tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, a chopped fennel blossom and a few chopped chives.
I tossed everything around a bit, covered it and placed it in the refrigerator.
Between now and dinner I'll toss the cucumbers around a bit at least a couple more times.

Baldur

#1563 -r=the

Dragon

I love your 'Summer Pickles' idea Baldur. We always simply slice te cukes into thin rounds and add vinegar, salt, pepper and sliced onions (we eat a lot of onions around here). We also marinade them for at least an hour before eating them but they will last for quite some time and when low we simply add more cukes and onions. Of course you can only add for so long, I've know some people who just keep the vinegar and keep adding all summer long but we throw it out and start fresh fairly frequently.
Also we had the chance to try some Lemon Cucumbers last year in Osoyoos. I did not even know they existed until we were shopping at a fruit stand and they had a bowl of them as testers soaked in special vinegar (I can't recall the type of vinegar but the area is well known for it's vineyards so it was probably the white wine variety). These were heavenly and if we had been heading straight home I'm sure we would have bought some. Alas, we still had a week of travelling included cross border travel and we didn't think it wise. I've never seen or heard of them since and I wish I could find them here.

Dragon

-te +the

Dragon

I definitly sympathize with those people who have impossible families. I have 6 sisters and a brother (5 are step-sisters). The one sister I'm actually related to by blood is the one I absolutly can't stand (the feeling is mutual). We can sit and have a nice conversation so long as someone else is there. Left by ourselves in a room there is an uncomfortable silence with the tv as background (inevitably showing something only 1 of us has any interest in) until one of us finds some excuse to go do something else. This is a shame because I love my nephew and think he's a great kid but I don't get to see him very often.
I get along great with my brother (though not as we were growing up) and with all my step-sisters so I'm more blessed than lots of people.
My fella is very close to all his siblings and talks to them on the phone almost weekly. This baffles me, we've to his brothers place more in the last year than I've been to my brothers place in the last 10. I often wonder what it would be like to be that close to my family and I don't think I can get my head wrapped around it. It's all good though, his family is a group of really wonderful people and they're exceedingly easy to hang around with.

Baldur

Dragon, the Lemon cucumber is an heirloom variety and I see it in garden catalogs in the US all the time. Baldur decided to google the seeds to see if you can purchase them in Canada. Indeed you can.
Victory Seeds, a Canadian company sells them as the Lemon Apple Cucumber.
Now here is the odd thing.
Baldur used the phrase 'seeds Canada' in his Google search, to find Canadian Seed catalogs. The first dozen or so listings to come up were for companies that only sell Cannibas seed, dear Lord.
I think they must be a frequently searched item.

Baldur

Baldur has a friend just outside of Winnipeg who used to request that I mail him a couple packets of a variety of golden skinned zucchini that is no longer available there.
I always filled out the little Customs form and attached it to the envelope stating there were seeds enclosed. Through the 1990s he always got them without a problem. In this century however the packet has never arrived.

Baldur

This is the second consecutive Summer that Baldur has not traveled to Canada. Robert and and I attended a social event in Fredericton each August for 12 years. The event was organized by a couple almost singlehandedly and grew to well over 100 participants before it got to the point where they were just burnt out.
Baldur cannot blame them, the work they did was no doubt exhausting.

Baldur loves New Brunswick, especially Fredericton. I would use any spare time to wander the town, visit historic buildings, go window shopping.
The locals were quite friendly, the town quite attractive and of a pleasant scale. It is not a sprawling metropolis. There are quite a few gardens and the public spaces are beautifully tended.

Baldur

A secret (not secret anymore) plan has been forming in the back of Baldur's head to retire to Fredericton. That would necessitate leaving my siblings behind. Moving to Canada would work well for my children I believe. Nile and his wife are planning to move to Maine eventually.

Baldur

Ashley Noelle would hop on a plane to visit (Daddy would have to pay for the tickets).

solosater

Umm? Isn't that what daddies are for?

Robindcr8l

Dragon, my neighbor 2 summers ago introduced us to lemon cucumbers. My son and I both just loved them and planted our own last year from seed. One plant produced plenty cucumbers for the two of us for the whole summer! They are much yummier than the traditional variety, although I love any cucumber, I must admit!

Dragon

I would so love to have a garden! Only a few problems though- 1. I really want the garden but really don't think I have the ambition to do the gardening.
2. I inherited a portion of my mothers black thumb. I like to think of mine as a brown thumb (please no gross jokes at that!)
3. The condo board would really not look kindly on me digging up the lawn to add a row of potatoes or cukes. Though perhaps I could fool the landscaping company into doing the work for me

Robindcr8l

Dragon, I too have a knack for killing plants, but seem to do better with gardening than indoor plants, maybe because mother nature helps more outside. It might be worth getting just a couple of pots that you could grow your own veggies or herbs in, though. I had shoulder surgery and couldn't dig this year, so did a pot garden (meaning the garden was in pots, not that the pot was the garden LOL). You could support 1 cuke plant in a large pot, but would need a cage or trellis to help it grow upward instead of out. I did a salsa garden with roma tomatoes, onions, peppers, cilantro and basil. It's fun fun fun!

midnightpoet

If I can't joke, can I at least giggle a little... Tee-hee... Brown thumb...

(my inner child is now satisfied...)

matthew

That happens everytime my daughter visits... I am just not used to logging on to my own computer... Anyway... Twas my inner child making the last post...

Robindcr8l

Robin is longing for another cryptogram, Baldur-style! Alas...