February 12 – 14th, 2011: All over the place…
It’s 3:47. In the A.M… and I’m awake.
Really, really awake mentally but physically I’ve managed to put a blanket around myself and slip off the chair that I’m sitting on so in other respects, not so much. I really think I should truly have my own camera crew at some points… *sigh!
Sad thing is that I only just got to bed an hour and a half ago so I’m a bit confused as to why I'm now awake. Possibly, starting to read a medical dictionary and consuming gross pickles and M&M’s shortly before going to be is not the best POA, however, I’m up now and endeavoring to make the most of it hoping to get tired enough to actually sleep consecutively for at least 4 hours rather than heading out to the gym.
Three more days of pickles, and my! What an adventure it’s been!
Day 6: The Gherkin Steak!
The gherkin pickle marinade turned out better than I could have expected after cozying up to some rib eye steaks and grilled alongside vegetables. Just sweet enough to emphasize the richness of the meat but not strong enough to overpower it, the gherkins, along with cinnamon, chili flakes and garlic almost had a sweet-sour-spicy effect that was neither too pickley or pungent. It was, surprisingly good. This, I will make again! (Recipe below for you curious people out there!)
Day 7: Perfection!
The next evening, Chelsa and I found ourselves a ways from home making dinner for friends. We chose a new recipe (although delicious, we’ve since decided to tweak and make better) for a twist on the traditional pesto on shrimp served on gluten free rice pasta.
Our ‘company’ (yay for friends with full kitchens that don’t mind us taking them over evenings at a time) kept us ‘company’ sipping on wine and scotch while we puttered and snooped through their kitchen making this very green dinner (No pickles were used in the creation of this dinner!!!) I must say that I thought about cheating when I saw how green everything turned out if only to mess with everyone reading this! It was quite comical as our ‘host’ doesn’t like to eat green things. I hadn’t had my pickle-fix for the day so we grabbed a jar to take with us and figure out something to do with them.
We legitimately did have the idea of trying a pickle pesto but that was a bit more than we could both handle, so instead, munched away on them as we cooked which brought up the Year of Pickle which they, in turn, got excited about and low and behold, tried it along with us! Pretty big for a guy who doesn’t like pickles to try them with peanut butter too!!! And fresh Parmesan, and a pickle martini… he drew the line with Chocolate but we courageously forged ahead to attack our taste buds with a new assault!
His wife made the most delectable truffles for a wedding and took out a few for dessert and I couldn’t resist… again, I never would have thought to put these things together, but the chocolate truffles with mini dills were heaven. Absolute. Heaven. I can’t even explain this apart from the fact that it was incredible. (Hello new recipe for next week: Chocolate, peanut butter, pickle truffles.)
Day 8: Panic!!!
Today turned out to be a bit of a pickle panic though… Yesterday was a rollercoaster of news from home and the consequent effects it would have on me here is actually exciting. The last major strings I have to Calgary have been temporarily severed at the end of March until July and not having a place of my own to go back to has pushed me to make some big decisions, make schedules and coordinate a whole lot from here, today. End result I’m quite happy with, but schedule now is nutbar.
With all this going on, it was 11:56 P.M. before I realized I hadn’t yet had a pickle!!! I picked up 3 new jars today to try this week, but hadn’t eaten any and what the heck do you do with a pickle with 4 minutes left on the clock other than pluck the sucker out of the jar and pop it in your mouth and swallow!!?!
(Note to self: ALWAYS have a chaser ready…)
Pickle Fail!!! Bad, bad pickle!!! I found a brand of pickles I do not like. At all! Chel tried too and ooooOOO the faces we made!!! Napoleon Cornichons: Piquant & Crunchy, (and uber tiny and cute – how could they be SO bad???), made in Spain… They ruined the baby cucumbers :(
Perhaps it was because we weren’t expecting the flavors we got but we didn’t expect it at all to have such a pungent, vinegary taste. I like capers but these were like capers on steroids and so overpowering that after 2 big handfuls of peanut M&Ms we could still taste the pickle.
There’s now a jar of pickles in the fridge taking up precious space that I don’t know what to do with. There’s a website on the label for ‘Great Recipe Ideas’, so possibly I’ll check that out and see if other ingredients can improve upon this ruination of cucumbers and the consequent Napoleon attack on my mouth.
It’s now 4:23 and my body is actually catching up to my ‘awake’ mind as I’m no longer having coordination issues (although… I haven’t stood up in a while. Hmmm…) Perhaps I’ll continue with my medical dictionary. (Only 1572 pages to go!)
Well… one week down and 51 to go. Exciting things planned for the coming weeks, and frightened for the coming months… Life’s an adventure though right? Seize it and LIVE it or watch it pass you by. I think Mark Twain said it best in this overused but appropriate (and favorite) quote…
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Gherkin Marinade
13 gherkin pickles (because I ate the rest & this was what was left in the jar…)
1/2 cup gherkin juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soya sauce
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp hot chili flakes
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Mix all ingredients together in a blender and marinate steak in refrigerator 2 hours or overnight before cooking.
