Learning something new

Everyday, we have the chance, the choice to learn something new.

It doesn't matter if it's something at work, something from our children, something from school or something from nature.  We should all strive to learn new things and to pass "old" knowledge on to our children and grandchildren.

And, if you don't have either of those, I am sure there are friends, neighbors, co-workers, or relatives that may enjoy learning what you know.

My mother, she didn't learn to cook as a girl.

 Her father died when she was a senior in High School and she had to go to work to help her mother take care of the remaining children at home.  Of which two were under 7.  She worked very hard for nearly twenty years before she met my father and married.  All the while she gave her paychecks to her mother, only keeping bus fare and some spending money for the week.  Because she worked outside the house, she didn't have to learn to cook.  Her mother did laundry and such at home and her sisters were the ones that learned to cook from their mother.

She learned to cook by trial and error and only had a few set of meals in her repertoire. Sure, they were healthy, home cooked meals, but she was not adventurous.  She cooked what she knew and that was it.

While I was growing up, I have no clear memory of my mother "teaching" me how to cook.  We weren't really "allowed" in the kitchen.  I was 21 years old, I think, when one of my mother's sisters passed away, and it was then, she instructed me how to make stuffed cabbage to take to my uncles house.  That was all I learned.  Which now, I am sad about.

My mother made the most awesome, homemade baked beans......  I watched her make them dozens of times.  She shared her recipe with me.  I followed the recipe and they were HORRIBLE.  They tasted nothing like hers.  There was something, some way she did one of the many steps that she just instinctively did and didn't think about that didn't get shared with me.  Perhaps it was the brand of beans she used.  Perhaps it was the water where she lived. Perhaps it was just that this was her "recipe" and she had the magic touch that made it hers.

I encourage you to share what you know with someone.  Have them over.  Ask them if there is something that you make that they like and make it with them.  Talk about what you learned while making a recipe your own.  Tell them about how to "taste" something to be sure it's "just right".  Share with them the joy you get when you make the recipe for someone who enjoys it.

Life is about sharing, and learning.  We can keep all of our knowledge to ourselves, hold on to it tight so it doesn't go away.  But, in the end, when you are gone, it's gone as well. 

Today, I shared a recipe for "refrigerator pickles" with a friend.  I had given her some and she asked me if I would teach her my recipe.  I was flattered.  I went to her place, and while I read to her the ingredients, she measured, and we talked and we shared.  And when the brine was cooking on the stove, she went to her recipe box and got out a recipe card and wrote it down.  Word for word just as it was written on my recipe card that I brought with me. (which was actually a 3x5 card)

The recipe is this:

24 hour pickles

2 quarts of water
1 cup of vinegar
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of salt

Boil and let cool. Put cucumbers, dill and garlic in jar & cover with cooled juice.

Now for my notes: (that the original recipe did not have and I struggled with the first time)

2 quarts is 8 cups of water
Be sure to use white Vinegar
Good to use Kosher salt if you have it.  Some say the iodine in salt makes the pickles soft.
You put the first four ingredients into a pot and bring the pot to a boil.  Stir it occasionally.  Turn the burner off and let the brine cool.  This is the hardest part, waiting.

Use "picklers" if you can get them.  That's what they call them here, some places they are called "Kirby" or canning cucumber.  I usually pick up about 7 to 9 of them. Cut the ends off of them, they say that leaving them on can make them soft as well.  Though, for how good these pickles are, they don't stay around long.

As for the dill, get fresh if you possibly can.  Use the leaves and the flower, if it has it.  If not the leaves are fine and only thin stems, not thick ones.

Garlic.  Use about two cloves, sliced in each jar.

Now, how many jars you ask?  I use the old Tupperware Pickle containers and this recipe makes two of them with some to spare.

My friend used a large, square Rubbermaid container to put hers in.  Then you put the lid on and put them in the refrigerator.

I think the reason why it says to let the brine cool, is because if you are using glass mason jars you never want to put something hot into a cold jar.  It will crack.

Leave them for 24 hours and then EAT!!

They won't last long, but just in case, I have been told eat them within three months.

If you try this recipe, I would love to hear what you thought.

Until next time,
GROW where you are planted.