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And it an old Bubbie’s pickle jar!

 

Ever see yourself doing something stupid, but you keep doing it because it feels good? That is me, eating pickled red onions and habaneros until my tongue bleeds. Like, I see it about to happen, but I keep right on going.

Try them on your sandwiches, tacos, and salads. And straight from the jar, too.

As with most recipes here, this one is pretty loose. You’re going to need:

• Sliced red onion
• White vinegar OR 2 parts lime juice, 1 part orange juice, and 1 part grapefruit juice or 1 part white vinegar and 2 parts lime juice
• 1 or more habanero peppers
• Plus, maybe: oregano (Mexican, toasted if you like), orange and/or lemon peel, a bay leaf, whole allspice, whole peppercorns

Place the red onion and any spices in a glass jar. Heat the liquid–or don’t–and then add to the jar. Put a slice in the habanero pepper and drop it in, or finely chop it and add it. Try to wait.

Above, we used a combination of white vinegar and lime juice, plus oregano. We kept the habanero whole this time.

 

Goodbye, Christmas!

I realized this year one of the benefits of a live tree: the pressure to take it down.

In addition to our first artificial tree, this year we put up a magical forest of conifers on the mantle. We thought we’d build one each day for Advent and tuck a little candy or other prize under each as a way to countdown the days til Christmas, but we couldn’t stop.

This craft is appropriate for kids of all ages.

Supplies: paper in various shades of green, paint (We use black, white, red, rose glitter, and gold glitter paint), brushes and sponges, tape or small stapler

To do (by Lamb):

1. Paint some of your sheets of paper with fun designs. We used zigzags, stripes, and even leopard spots.
2. Cut paper into cones. You might have a preferred way to do this, but we never found one we loved. One idea: trace circles of various sizes (use bowls or saucers or plates), then cut out. Cut in half, and bend each into a cone. Secure with tape or small staples.
3. Build trees out of a single cone, or stack. If stacking, add fringe or a wavy edge to tiers.
4. If you feel extra creative, decorate by painting on little birds, squirrels, porcupines, raccoons, etc.!

 

 

New Year’s Day is celebrated for some folks with black eyed peas. For others of us, it’s pork and sauerkraut. Maybe cabbage is lucky because it represents money? I don’t know, and I’m not actually a huge fan, but I love pickled foods–especially bright, tangy things that make you forget that it’s winter and replace at least some of the potatoes and other root vegetables we’d otherwise be eating.

We’ll be pickling all month. We don’t can because that takes too long, and really, these  things get eaten so quickly that I can’t get ahead of them. If you have a favorite pickled food, please share it because we’d love to add more foods to our pickle canon. C

Caramel corn (not pickled) and soon–to-be turmeric eggs and red beet eggs.