How Everything Tastes

The following exchange occurred over dinner:

Me: I’ve been eating pickles and jam all afternoon.

Lauren: That’s so gross.

Well not TOGETHER Lauren. It’s just that when I got home I said: “Ooooh pickles!” And I opened the garden pickles I made the other day and really enjoyed that zingy punch of vinegar, garlic, and Thyme via carrot, celery or fennel. Challenges include: fishing carrot, celery, or fennel out of the jar AND picking out threads of Thyme that come along for the ride. All in all, though, this was a good thing to make. I like the idea of cooking things that last in perpetuity (<--gratuitous legal term!). Most things I make spoil and go uneaten. These pickles will last til Armageddon, when Ben Affleck will break through my roof and spoonfeed pickles to Liv Tyler---surviving on their well-preserved nutrition and flavor. Except I forgot to sterilize the jars, so they'll die of botchulism. Sorry Ben and Liv! And as for the jam, I've been eating the reject Jam--the one that got burned--and it is SO delicious it is not even funny. At first you're like: "Whoah? What kind of flavor is that?" Because you're not used to apricots and nectarines and ginger all mixed up together. But it's like discovering a new country full of people you really really like. And I've been slurping up reject jam all day. I just slurped some up now. It's--apologies to Bette Midler--the epitome of divine. I am quite glad I made it.