Sweetish Refrigerator Pickles

I call these "sweetish"one, because it sound like "Swedish" and that amuses me, and two, because I don't like sweet pickles, but I do like these. These pickles are super-easy to make and take a whole 15 minutes. Plus four days in the fridge that you have to try to keep your hands off of them.

Ingredients
1 quart pickling cucumbers or 1/2-3/4 English cucumber, thinly sliced
3/4 cup thinly sliced white onion
1.5 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar*
1/2 tsp. mustard seed
1/2 tsp. sea salt
4 whole peppercorns
2 whole allspice berries
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric

Directions
1. Thoroughly wash a 1 quart/1 litre container and allow it to air dry.
2. Layer onion and cucumber in container, starting and ending with onion. You may have a little too much cucumber. Eat the leftovers.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute, then let cool.
4. When cool, pour the vinegar over the cucumber and onions.
5. Refrigerate. Try to keep from eating it for at least four days, but if you can't stand it it, you can try them after 24 hours. They'll keep in the fridge for a month, if they last that long.


*You can use regular sugar and it will taste just fine.

Free patterns from 1943

Here are three patterns from The Complete Book of Sewing from1943. Patterns are from a plain slip-on blouse, panties, and a bra. Click on the photo, then get the biggest size for greatest usefulness.

Enjoy!

Vintage sewing pattern up for grabs

Want a vintage sewing pattern for free? I'll even pay postage.

So, as you can see, the cover's in a bit of a state. Every time I touch it a little more flakes off, so I've put it in a page protector and stopped touching it. The good news, however, is that only the cover is in bad shape. Here's the back cover.

The pattern size is 18 1/2, which is bust 37, waist 31, and hip 40. The instructions are yellowed, but intact, and the pattern pieces, while cut, are in great shape. The waistband is missing, but should be easy to reconstruct. See here for proof of size:

So what do you have to do to get this pattern? Just tell me why you want it, promise me you'll make it soon, and send me a photo of the finished outfit when you're done. If you can't do all those things, don't ask for the pattern.

To ask for the pattern, just leave a comment on this post with:

• your email address
• why you want this pattern
• your intention to make it soon and send me pictures

That's it. I'll pick the person who gives me the best reason, in my opinion, on Sunday, July 27. I'll even pay for postage, so this is 100% free to you, so if you don't intend to make this pattern, please don't ask for it.

Thanks!

Two lunches for the price of one

For comparison, here's lunch for me and Jeff on the same day.

I let Jeff take Mr. Bento, and I took the Packmate. We had cherries, green beans, and sweet potatoes from the farmers' market, an eggplant and beets from the garden. Click on the photos for notes about what, exactly, is what.

Another dress!

I made another dress, using the same pattern as the bunny-taunting dress.

It's much harder to see the princess lines on this one, but trust me; it's the same dress. I made a few changes to the fit this time, but I could still lose five pounds to make it fit perfectly. But I love it. And it has pockets!

Slowcooker applesauce

With the price of food going up, I've been making an effort to cut costs where I can without sacrificing quality. Sometimes, though, that means putting in a bit of work, like peeling a cutting half-peck of apples to make applesauce.

That's really the only hard work, though. The rest of it's done by the slowcooker.

Ingredients:

1/2 peck* apples, any kind
1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Peel, core, and chop apples. I suggest an apple slicer to speed things up.
2. Combine apples and water in slowcooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
3. When the apples are soft, mash them with the back of a spoon, or for smoother applesauce, run through a food processor, blender, or use an immersion blender.
4. Allow to cool completely, then spoon into small containers and freeze.

This makes about 5-6 cups of applesauce. You can also add sugar or honey if your apples are tart. I usually don't, but sometimes I'll add some when I'm eating it.

*A half peck is one of those little bags with the handles that you often see apples and other tree fruit in.

Salad days

(Two lunches in two weeks?! What's the world coming to?! :)

It's summer and that means salad!

Rice salad and a green salad for lunch yesterday. Yum!

Simplified Sewing booklet

Jeff and I hit our favorite antique mall, Heritage Square Antique Mall, yesterday, and I scored. I got a nearly complete set of booklets for a correspondence sewing course from the 1920s for $1.50 each.

Not only are the booklets very helpful in explaining sewing, but they're a fascinating look at the time period. I've scanned in the "Simplified Sewing" booklet, which includes a bunch of patterns that can be made using only measurements, including aprons and kimono nightgown.

Access it here. It's a big file, so be patient.

Let me know if you make anything from the booklet, I'd love to see!

A typical Saturday night at our house

Bunny taunting dress

Hi, Orlando & Fiona! I made a special dress just to taunt you:

Look! It's covered in carrots!

Eggplant & onion pasta

Eggplant and onion pasta, made with eggplant and onion from the garden. :)



With faux chicken, makes a tasty lunch!

Grill-roasted beets

Ingredients:

• beets, any variety, any amount
• balsamic vinegar, regular or white
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Heat grill to 400-500 degrees.
2. Top and tail the beets, then chop them into 1 inch cubes or so.

3. Make a double layer of aluminum foil and put beets in the center. Pull up the edges of the foil to make a bowl.
4. Add vinegar and oil, about a quarter cup of each, more or less depending on how many beets you have. Add salt & pepper to taste.
5.Pull up foil around beets and crimp well to close. Turn the packet over quickly a few times to coat the beets with vinegar and oil.

6. Place packet on grill over direct heat for about 20 minutes.
7. Move packet to top grill shelf, still over direct heat, for another 20 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

Lunch!

It's been a while since I posted a lunch, so I thought I would.

From the top clockwise, that's salad; roasted red beets from the farmer's market; curry with sweet potato, onion, chickpeas, and tomatoes; and raspberries. Yum!

This looks hilarious

Seriously.


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Green bee

I had never before seen a green bee, but I recently saw one on a coneflower.

(You should really click on the picture and look at it as big as it gets. It's pretty cool.)

Apparently, it's from the genus Agapostemon, but other than that, it's too hard to tell what species it is. Cool-looking, though, huh?

Baby pepper!

To go along with yesterday's baby eggplant, here's a baby pepper.

This is an Alma paprika pepper. I bought lots at the Clintonville farmer's market last year, so I thought I should probably grow them myself this year.

They're very thick-walled, so great for stuffing. I may even dry one or two and make my own paprika, though that's not why I got them.

They're also wonderfully sweet and great raw. With any luck, there'll be enough to eat them any way I want!

Baby eggplant

Look! A baby eggplant!

Isn't it cute? I planted a different variety from last year, so these will actually be purple (last year's were mostly white). These are Fairytale eggplants, and they only get to be about four inches long, so it's a quarter of the way there.

Soon, my pretty, I will eat you up!