I don't cook. and it's not for lack of effort. It's most because I am a walking disaster in the kitchen. I lack finesse.
Today's adventures in the kitchen are a true testament to that.
I love to garden. I love the satisfaction of eating something that I have grown. This past week I picked six ginormous alien shaped cucumbers. We can't eat them that fast so it's pickle time. Ironically, no one in the house except me eats pickles (and I don't really eat them that often). I wanted to take a short-cut and not do my traditional relish and just do sliced pickles.
When I told Paul my plan he warned me that I would need some vinegar. So this morning I checked the recipe one more time and put vinegar and onions on my list. Off to Walmart with my four children (who are not shoppers). I grab what I need and come home.
It's prep time. Cut cucumbers, cut onions cry like a baby. Seriously it took ten minutes for the sting to go away. Place cucumbers in a stainless pot with onions pickle salt (here I discover I don't have as much as I thought, I won't be able to do multiple batches: error 1) and water. Now I go get the canning pot. Have you ever seen a real canning pot? These things are ridiculously big.
.
So I lug this thing out of hiding and start to prep. This is when I discover error #2. I don't have the right size jars for my project. Yup jar size matters. I have lots of quart jars no pint jars. Just some funky shaped jelly jars. They will have to do. Who wants a quart of pickles?
When I begin to prep the pickle spice is when I notice my real problem. I never bothered to check if we had enough spices. I have enough cucumbers for two batches, and enough supplies for one batch.
It's time to rewrite my plans. I can't let the cucumbers sit any longer. They are getting soft and soon will be unusable. So I make the first batch. I can hear them popping now! and the second set is brining now. I promised my darling monkeys a trip to the pool, what I haven't told them is that includes a detour to Walmart for more supplies.
Oh and one more thing: when the book says to only use stainless products it means it. Sorry Paul, I forgot about that and didn't realize we still don't have a metal ladle. Yourugly precious old ladle is now a lovely shade of pickle. And sorry about the mess I'm leaving you in the kitchen. I'll clean it up later, when I move on to phase two of the great pickle experiment.
What have I learned from this: I really need to plan better.
Today's adventures in the kitchen are a true testament to that.
I love to garden. I love the satisfaction of eating something that I have grown. This past week I picked six ginormous alien shaped cucumbers. We can't eat them that fast so it's pickle time. Ironically, no one in the house except me eats pickles (and I don't really eat them that often). I wanted to take a short-cut and not do my traditional relish and just do sliced pickles.
When I told Paul my plan he warned me that I would need some vinegar. So this morning I checked the recipe one more time and put vinegar and onions on my list. Off to Walmart with my four children (who are not shoppers). I grab what I need and come home.
It's prep time. Cut cucumbers, cut onions cry like a baby. Seriously it took ten minutes for the sting to go away. Place cucumbers in a stainless pot with onions pickle salt (here I discover I don't have as much as I thought, I won't be able to do multiple batches: error 1) and water. Now I go get the canning pot. Have you ever seen a real canning pot? These things are ridiculously big.
.
So I lug this thing out of hiding and start to prep. This is when I discover error #2. I don't have the right size jars for my project. Yup jar size matters. I have lots of quart jars no pint jars. Just some funky shaped jelly jars. They will have to do. Who wants a quart of pickles?
When I begin to prep the pickle spice is when I notice my real problem. I never bothered to check if we had enough spices. I have enough cucumbers for two batches, and enough supplies for one batch.
It's time to rewrite my plans. I can't let the cucumbers sit any longer. They are getting soft and soon will be unusable. So I make the first batch. I can hear them popping now! and the second set is brining now. I promised my darling monkeys a trip to the pool, what I haven't told them is that includes a detour to Walmart for more supplies.
Oh and one more thing: when the book says to only use stainless products it means it. Sorry Paul, I forgot about that and didn't realize we still don't have a metal ladle. Your
What have I learned from this: I really need to plan better.
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