Sweet And Sour Pickles A Crunchy Tasty Hit

I just got back from Las Vegas and another writing conference yesterday. It was a tiring but rewarding weekend. I met dozens of people I’d heard of and whose work I had read. I also talked to umpteen editors and publishers–tossing around story ideas and coming up with several viable projects. (Now I just have to get my self in gear and do some major writing.)

The overall size of this conference was small compared to the PNWD conference I blogged about earlier, but it was every bit as fulfilling. I spent most every waking hour involved in either social situations or in conference classes and panels. As someone who spends most of my days at home alone at the computer, I found it almost too much. Maybe it’s just that it’s different from my norm, or maybe it’s because my throat is still sore from all the talking. Or, it could just be sore from all the cigarette smoke I breathed in as I walked through the casino to my room.

The airport was subdued seeming to me yesterday. Flying on 9/11 wasn’t exactly something I relished, but I didn’t really want to give power to fear so booked my return flight as practically possible after the conference had ended. Sure, I could have left on the 10th, but I would have missed out on some very valuable social bonding time.

When I got home yesterday, I was greeted with welcoming, warm hugs from all and the scent of some delicious Welsh Cakes Bill was just taking off the griddle. It was enough for me for dinner, but by eight thirty in the evening I was a little peckish. I routed through the fridge to see what we had and remembered that one of our unsealed jars of sweet pickles should be ready to test. I opened the jar and pulled out a cold fresh spear. The mix of spices was from the spice store in Pike Place Market (thanks again to M. for bringing her supply!). The crunch of the pickle was perfect! I think trimming off the blossom ends and brining the cucumbers overnight did the trick. I can’t wait to see what the “Dutch Crunch” end up tasting like. Unfortunately, we can’t open any of those until we have more room on our pickle shelf.