pickles

Closer and closer to Halloween

/ Shane / 1 Comment

On Friday, Evie and I tried our most ambitious baking experiment yet: a pumpkin roll.

Pumpkin roll is easily in my top 2 deserts all time. I could probably eat one by myself, in a sitting, if I had to. But this is the first time I ever tried to make one. People kind of talk it up like it is hard, so I was a little worried, but honestly it wasn’t really that much trouble. And it was deeeelicious (even though half of it was eaten by a bunch of barbarians).

On Saturday we hit up the Halloween thing at the Lincoln Park Zoo, where we are members. It was a cold, wet, miserable day like you wouldn’t believe. The kind of day where nobody should be outside, everyone should be inside, under blankets, with something warm to drink. So traipsing around the zoo wasn’t really the greatest idea. Especially since Evie couldn’t wear her coat, because that would have ruined her awesome bat costume. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but most of the indoor enclosures were closed for the day, meaning we couldn’t get out of the elements. Luckily the bat enclosure wasn’t closed, so we were able to get some pictures of Evie in her bat costume looking at the actual bats. We did not stick around for the music or trick-or-treating, but Evie did ride on the carousel, so she was happy.

Finally, on Sunday we carved pumpkins. Readers of this blog will not be surprised that Evie requested that her pumpkin be crying, with tears running down its face. That being said, I am quite proud of the way hers turned out, very sad looking. Evie was a good model, fake crying for me whenever I needed it, to get the look right. She wanted my pumpkin to be angry / scary and Sara’s to be happy. She helped do hers, but got bored long before everything was done. That’s okay, I had fun doing it. Plus I have a bunch of roasted pumpkin seeds to eat now!

One last thing to mention about the weekend, I opened my first jar of pickles! They were very good. If I had been given that jar by my grandma, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But, since I was the one actually making them, I was maybe a little over critical of them. They were a little vinegary and a little salty. Still, all in all, not too shabby for my first time out!

Pickles!

/ Shane / 9 Comments

My grandma makes homemade pickles and they are to die for. I’ve always wanted to try to make the pickles myself so that I could rely on my own supply, instead waiting until she could sneak me a jar or two. I’m not saying she did sneak me jars and I’m not saying she didn’t, but I am saying that if she did sneak me jars and word got out (like on the Internet, for example), then I’d probably be in big trouble with the rest of my family.

So I planted some cucumbers this year on the porch figuring I’d get enough for a jar or two and we could give it a trial run. However, we had an opportunity to raid my grandma’s garden for cucumbers when she was on vacation, and we netted quite a few (and some dill).

our contribution

We had never tried canning before, and we were a little nervous about it. We purchased a nice set in anticipation of doing some more canning this year, especially once the tomatoes start rolling in from the garden. Previously we had just frozen everything and that worked pretty well, but, with the uncertainty of the garden next year, we might need to lay more of a supply by this year.

in progress

So, we managed to can 7 quarts of pickles and even had some spare cukes left over. One of the jars didn’t seal the first time around, but we re-processed it and it sealed the second time. Now it is just a matter of waiting for 6 weeks until these beauts are ready to go!

finished product

Grandma’s Pickles

/ Shane / 3 Comments

My Grandma’s homemade pickles are the greatest food on this or any other planet in this or any other reality.  FACT.  If I were stranded on a desert island and I could only take one food with me to have forever, it would be my Grandma’s pickles.

I just wanted that on the record somewhere.

Pickle Pop Redux

/ Shane / 1 Comment

In case you are keeping track at home, I still had one Pickle Pop left after our previous trials.  Well, Evie’s birthday party seemed like a good time to break it out.  I meant to blog this a long time ago when it was fresh in my mind, but I will try to do my best to remember everyone’s reactions.

A brave soul goes first

A brave soul goes first

Even though he doesn’t like pickles, we convinced Nathan give it a try.  I will let his reaction shot speak for itself:

Not so much

Not so much

 After the ice was broken, everybody wanted to try.

Dabu

Dabu votes no

 I can’t remember for sure, but I don’t think Chris liked it.

Chris gives it a try

Chris gives it a try

I thought Anna might like it since she really likes pickles.
A new hope

A new hope

I think she thought it was okay, but she wasn’t wild about it.  After that we thought maybe a kid would go for it if an adult wouldn’t.  In any case, kids are easy to trick and will do anything their daddies tell them to do.
Maybe it is more of a kid thing

Maybe it is more of a kid thing

Eliza didn’t dislike it, but she’s old enough to recognize an icy and therefore didn’t get what she was expecting.  Also the reaction was a little skewed, what with the camera and all the adults crowding around.  I think she would eat them under different circumstances.
On to the next sucker

On to the next sucker

If I remember correctly, Tom thought they were alright.  I for sure remember him requesting Sauerkraut Pops, but I told him they probably already had enough trouble selling Pickle Pops.  Sharon didn’t want to try them but she did anyway.

Dont forget the folks outside
Dont forget the folks outside

Well, obviously with a predisposition to dislike, the outcome was obvious.  That brought us to the last, but not least, test subject.  My dad LOVED them!  He would have eaten a whole box if it was available.  He even slurped up the extra melted juice at the bottom.

Finally, success!

Finally, success!

So, although it took a while to find the right person, in the end we did find a person just crazy enough to like the Pickle Pops after all!

Do Pickle Pops give you a hang over?

/ Shane / 4 Comments

If you’ve been following the whole pickle pop saga, then you know that David Millar from Bob’s Pickle Pops saw my entry and interest in pickle pops and was kind enough to send me some free samples.  After you hear about something like frozen pickle pops, you just have to give something like that a try.  Plus, I originally dissed them without giving them a fair shake.

So, without further ado…

Pickle pops, old and new

They were actually different and tasted different too.  I thought the new version tasted better, although its appearance was more startling because it has little pickle speckles all through it.

My first reaction

Sara takes a taste (don't forget, she hates pickles!)

Allie's turn:

Dan's (admittedly fake) reaction

After trying the pickle pops, we all agreed that, well, “They taste pretty much how you expect them to taste.”  As I said before, I really love pickles and I have to say I was not really a fan of the pickle pops.  They didn’t taste bad exactly…I don’t know how to describe it.  It’s like when you’re eating a frozen treat your mouth expects a certain thing and a salty pickle is not that thing.  Unfortunately, thumbs down from all 4 of us.

But the experiment was not over.  Mr. Millar also mentioned making a “picklerita”.  I searched online but didn’t find any recipes, so we had to make our own.  I tried with just tequila, but it was improved with more tequila and some triple sec.

(Yes we are making these on the treadmill in the basement so as not to wake the baby)

Taste test

I have to say, after tasting the pop itself, I did not have high hopes for the picklerita.  It actually wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating!  Even still, if you have to have a margarita, for my money you are better off with the regular old kind, rather than a picklerita.  Although, of course, it did have a certain novelty factor.

But, as you can see, I drank it all:

So, in conclusion, I’ll have to take a pass on any future pickle pops, unless maybe if I get cancer.  But thank you to David Millar and Bob’s Pickle Pops for at least giving me the chance to find out!