simple recipe for sweet and sour refrigerator pickles

I've talked about the cucumbers I'm growing a few times and recently linked to a recipe for refrigerator pickles that I wanted to try. So..

I bought cucumbers over the weekend (mine aren't ready yet), vinegar on Monday, and I was ready. I got out a pot, the vinegar, sugar, etc and looked at the recipe again.. and thought, wait? One cup of vinegar and two cups of sugar? That can't be right, can it? Is that much sugar really going to dissolve into only one cup of liquid? And still be.. ya, know.. liquidy?

I looked up a few more recipes online, mushed them all together, and created my own.

Add..
1 cup of distilled white vinegar
1 cup of water
10 tablespoons (a little more than 1/2 a cup) of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt

To..
a pot on low heat

Just long enough for the sugar to dissolve. Then turn off the heat and let it sit in the pot while you wash and cut the cucumbers (I used 2). You could also add onions, peppers, etc

Place the cucumbers in a clean container (I used a glass bowl), pour in vinegar mixture, cover, and refrigerate. Done.

I started eating the pickles only a few hours after they went into the fridge, but that's because I have no self control apparently. After about 12-18 hours they were truly sweet and sour pickles.. and after 24 hours they are still delicious. From what I've read, they will still be good for a few more days.

Oh, ya.. the verdict? They're pretty good. They remind me of the pickles they sometimes include in the vegetable Pad Thai from our "local" Indian restaurant. I would make them again, but next time I think I would like to try making dill refrigerator pickles. And in fact, I do already have the dill..

Having coffee and cantaloupe

I give up- the day and all its rotten circumstances wins. And I do not.

Now that it's almost five o'clock.. I suppose I'll admit defeat for the day. I've been tired for hours. I tried to get coffee at Starbucks, but the barista made it wrong. My child had a bad day at school (in other words she was naughty and got in trouble multiple times). My child was in a time out when I arrived to pick her up, she screeeamed when she was "released" to me, was hysterical about not getting to look at the books with the other kids, and continued to scream and tell me she didn't "want me" all the way to the car. Etc. And through the process of buckling her and her brother into their car seats.

Within a few hours of coming home, I thought for sure she was going to fall asleep.. and then suddenly she was wide awake. And running around the house. And not listening. Aging me a little more each hour. And no one napped. No one.

So I gave up. And went into the kitchen to make coffee and eat something healthy to keep me going until whenever Noah decides to go to bed "tonight." Coffee. Cantaloupe.

I checked on Lily when I was done- asleep on her floor. I sat down on the couch and Noah climbed up to join me. I turned on The Wonder Pets for him.. and he laid down. Laid. Down. Like he may in fact take a nap.

Of course.

Tales from the preschool trenches

The day's school events as reported, mostly, by Lily.. She bumped her head at school. On the wall. When she was running back and forth with her friend S instead of standing in line for the bathroom. One of her teachers showed me where on Lily's head and said she iced it for a bit, but that Lily didn't want her to at first cus I had put sunscreen on her. (Points! Points for applying sunscreen on my child!)

When her teacher called her over so she could "show mommy the bump", Lily said "what?" and then "what?" So, great.. either it didn't hurt anymore and she forgot about it happening in the first place.. or she hit her head so hard she's suffering from amnesia. Probably the first one. Hopefully the first one.

Lily told me She got two "sit outs." I think that's what she called them. I guess that's not as bad as a "time out?" I don't know. One for spitting on J - which I can't determine was an accident or not. Possibly semi an accident? Apparently he was on fire (as a dragon, she was the one that had set him on fire)- and she was putting him out (which, as a dragon, I suppose is the right thing to do after you've set someone on fire). I don't know if she meant to only pretend spit? Either way we talked about how that's gross, that you wouldn't want someone spitting on you, etc.

The other "sit out" was for digging in the dirt for treasure (gold coins, etc- that's my girl!) and they told her to stop but she didn't listen fast enough. So we talked about listening to the teachers when they say to stop doing something.

And if that was the extent of her day?- that's pretty much perfect for this child. Her strong-willed, smart, very creative self can't always conform to the rules of preschool- but.. we're trying. Jointly.. we're trying.

I don't always agree with the rules.. or the way things get handled at school, but.. We've had talks about the rules at school being a little different and there's nothing mommy and daddy can do about it. She just needs to listen to her teachers when she's at school because when she doesn't.. what? She gets in trouble, has to sit out, and can't play for awhile. And that stinks, right? Ya.. that stinks.

Tomatoes, onions, beans, and cucumbers..

I brought all my tomato plants inside today so I could move a couple of them into their own pots. This isn't a great picture, but there they are nonetheless. Now.. where are my tomatoes?!

I moved the onions into bigger pots about a week ago and they seem to be doing a lot better. I cannot for the life of me remember if they are scallions or large onions- but hopefully they'll be outgrowing these pots soon too.

The green and purple beans are the clear window garden winners so far. I've harvested about 6 beans- and eaten.. none. I kept putting it off, hoping more would be ready shortly.. and everything just started to shrivel. So I opened them up, collected the seeds, and left them out to dry (and plant next year).

Having said that.. those beans have got nothing on what it looks like the cucumbers are going to do..

I have four thriving cucumber plants. Thriving. Each plant had at least 15-20 blooms. And the leaves on one of them..

.. are bigger than my hands. The shade it's creating is actually helping out one of the pots of onions- I've noticed the pot that's more shaded is doing better. I cannot wait for all these cucumbers- especially now that I've found a recipe for refrigerator pickles!