Anticipation (a pickle story and a life lesson?)

Does it feel a bit like I'm turning this into a food blog? I'm sure I'll get back to whining and complaining about the rest of my life, or — better yet — laughing at the foibles of others, but I'm feeling very upbeat right now about my cooking creations, so I'm sharing them.

I went to my local open-air market the other day and spied some lovely fresh dill being sold in big bunches and about three or four feet tall. I always feel like I see the dill too early in the season for the stuff you might want to use it with, so this was a fabulous coincidence: right product at the right time. I stocked up on that and pickling cucumbers, zucchini, hot peppers, etc. and had a couple of occasions making pickles.

Two views of the ingredients:

(sneaking up on them)


(aerial view)

And two views of the products:

(sneaking up on them)

(labelled view)

So why is this post called 'anticipation'? Because as smug as I feel about how they all sealed and look good (at least to me), I have to wait a few weeks before they will be ready to taste. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before the people responsible for the bread-cheating machine (derisive commentary on the technology) will invent some kind of instant pickle kit to give people the illusion of having made their own pickles, ready in minutes.

This all reminds me of a book one of my sisters was reading about the French surveyors charting where the equator passes through South America. I'm sure I'll get the facts wrong, but the sense of it is similar.

One of the surveyors was arranging to meet his wife, who he hadn't seen in years. He caught wind of news, however, that if he crossed the border into Brazil he risked being arrested because of a conflict between Brazil and France and suspicion about what he was actually doing. So he stopped where he was and sent the boat ahead to rendez-vous with his wife. She was delayed, so the boat waited at the rendez-vous point for TWO YEARS. With other similar delays, they were finally reunited, having been apart for several years, but each waiting patiently for the conditions to align themselves to bring them back together.

Can you imagine, in our own time, anyone waiting outside a cinema for longer than a half-hour for the friend who was supposed to be her/his movie companion?

Our instant gratification culture lacks patience.

Après ça, le déluge

At last, the final benefit (well, probably not the final benefit) of my lovely new fridge.

I dug out the ice cream maker that I bought from a former colleague many years ago when she was moving and I have had the metal cylinder in the freezer for weeks, just waiting for me to get around to making my first ice cream. Here is the product of my labour. sprinkled with a few raspberries that were in my fridge, having see somewhat better days (but still tasty).

Now I feel downright accomplished and will have to start sharing more of my cooking (and food preparing more generally) here.

I was seriously concerned that this first ice cream might not work out. I wasn't sure just how long to cook it; I put it into the fridge still a bit warm; I left it there way too long (actually went out to see a play and came back after it had been in the fridge for four hours rather than the recommended one!). But yum! The results were worth all the risk-taking.

Walking with the Hump

So today was Ça Marche, our annual AIDS fundraising walk.

I'm happy to say that everything, or almost everything, was perfect for it: bright and sunny; cool yet not cold; a reasonable turnout; and the Farha Foundation (organizers of Ça Marche) did a really good job of having a diversity of entertainment along the way, snacks, beverages and even bubbles at a surprising number of spots (is it possible to gain weight while walking 7 km? I think it might be!) and even swag for those of us who had raised a certain amount of money.

Yes, I did attain Star Walker status again, raising (as of this morning) $2,195 by mail and via the internet (which is almost the same in U.S. dollars these days!). That's a bit shy of my goal and my last year's total, but I also know that I have some more donations coming to me by mail and on the event web site. If anyone reading this wants to add to that, click here to donate and I shall be most eternally grateful! ;-)

Not only does every dollar go to help support the many programs of my organization, AIDS Community Care Montreal, but it might help me in my personal challenge to groups within the organization. You see, each year, I challenge any group of 8 people to raise more than I do alone and I will make a cake for the group. Last year, two cakes! This year, I might be risking as many as four (which is good news about the efforts of these other teams, and I am happy to do it…but let's not make it easy for them!) The fun part was the inventiveness of their online team names, like the one by the ACCM Board: A Chocolate Cake, Monteith! (Which, if you are swifter than I was when I first saw it, also spells out the acronym of the organization, ACCM).

So now I'm home, taking a bit of time to nurse my feet back to relative health, and getting ready to make pickles! Yay! (But that's another entry, isn't it?!)