Welcome back

So much has happened in my pickle life since I last blogged.  I was having big issues with commitment and  decided to retire the pickle blog.  Like most people in the year 2013, I lead a very full life and I was looking at my blog as a burden, instead of an escape.  Since my last blog post here is what I have learned:
1.  I still love pickles, and like to share my love with others
2.  I am a loud mouth, who likes to talk to much and when I blog I tend to drive the people who know me a little less crazy
3.  I may not be the world's most gifted writer, but I do enjoy it, so here I am, again.

Since it has been so long since I have written a post, I decided I would just write another blog entry recommitting.  I know my 17 followers are probably skeptical, but I am not making any promises.  I am not going to write about a pickle a day.  I am going to shoot for once a week.  My husband was the most disappointed in me, because he tries to support all I do.  Here I go again.

Peppered Pickles

My latest spicy find comes from a company called Frog Ranch Foods.  Frog Ranch makes salsa and pickles, so it seems natural to me they make spicy pickles.  I recently tried a jar of the All Natural Hot and Spicy Peppered Pickle.  The good about this pickle, they really do taste freshly packed.  It was a home made taste with quality ingredients.  Since they are pickled with jalapenos after a few these really have a kick!  My only complaint would be that I like my pickles a little more salty.  These pickles are almost there, but not quite.  I also put these in my tuna sandwich.  They had a great flavor for the tuna.  They were too spicy for anyone else in my family to eat, so I did enjoy the whole jar.

I enjoy the idea of a peppered pickle and the different interpretations of the pickle.  Miss Jenny has a salt and pepper pickle, there are many recipes for a peppered pickle, of course Frog Ranches' peppered pickle and various others.  In this very snowy February it is nice to sit down, curl up by the fire and warm up with a peppered pickle.  Not your idea of a winter treat?  Try it, it will keep you warm or at least your taste buds!

Pickles and movies.

This morning the Oscar nominations were announced.  I use to love this time of year.  When Alberto and I started dating we always had seen all the movies nominated, could talk at length about the best performances, we could even supply some basic commentary on Best Score or Original Song.  Fast forward to two kids later, and we usually have a comment that is something along the lines of, "we didn't see one of the best animated movies."  "Really?  It must have come out during dance season or soccer season or (insert whatever season the kids are involved in here).  You can imagine my shock this morning when I had seen not one of the Best Picture Nominations, but four the nominations and only three of the five in the Best Animation category!  True, percentage wise, I still saw more in the animation category, but I chose to manipulate the data to show that I got to see more grown up films then kid films this year.  After all, I work in academia and that is what we do, manipulate research.

Some of my fondest memories of the time when Alberto and I did see movies, is that we could get a pickle at the movie theater, and by we, I mean me.  I moved to west Texas in 1995 and found many things I did not like.  I don't like dust storms, I don't like temperatures above 100 degrees for several days in a row, I don't like fried okra, I don't like barbecue, I don't like flat landscape...you get the picture.  I did find I liked that you could buy a pickle at the movies.  I also understand you can probably do this other places too, but when I was growing up in Idaho Falls, ID, we did not have this option.  The pickles were big, juicy and very fragrant, which probably annoys others in the theater who do not have love for the gherkin as I do.  Those people have issues anyway.  I can remember one of those pickles was big enough to be a meal.  Maybe, in retrospect, we saw so many movies because pickles were an option.  I am apparently not the only one who misses this though:





Pickles and movies go together like Fred and Ginger, Peanut Butter and Jelly or even Harold and Kumar.  You can be assured when the Oscars air on February 26th, I will have plenty of my favorite salty snack!

Harold and his hot pickles

For Christmas, I receive an Amazon.com gift certificate.  I decided why not look for pickles on Amazon.  I ordered some of these:

Harold's Spicy Habanero Pickles

I have two words to describe these pickles, HOT and DELICIOUS.  Did I mention hot?  These are exactly what you would expect from a Texas pickle.  Besides being spicy, they are a little on the salty side (so for pickles that is really salty), crisp and perfect for snacking!  I will be honest.  I bought these pickles because I was enticed by a whimsical label.  I am always enticed by a good whimsical label, unfortunately, this is one of the few times that buying by the label has worked out.  The company that makes Harold's pickles is called Conscious Choice Foods.  I am very anxious to try their other award winning pickles!

Big Pappa Chapstick

A couple weeks ago, I received a free sample of Van Holten's Pickle chapstick!  It was a Facebook campaign that Vanholten's ran in conjunction with Alice.com.  Now some people might question how good pickle chapstick is.  Well it moistened my lips and smelled like my favorite pickle in a pouch.  In short, it is a definite winner!

Even though the smell does make my mouth water, I did not attempt to lick it off my lips or taste it.  I do not think it is flavored like the good old lip smackers that were popular from my youth.  Everyone knows lip smackers are still around and according to Bonnie Bell's website, the big fat ones that seemed so popular in my days at Emerson Elementary, are still around.  Doing my research on this blog entry, I ran across a website that talks about retro things.  In the comments section of the website, most people admitted to occasionally taking a nibble from their lip smacker.  One of the comment's made by  a person with the clever alias of choochoo train admitted to eating a whole watermelon lip smacker then throwing it back up.  I have my suspicions that choochoo train, is not alone.  So as with most good research, it changed the direction of my question and next a googled "eating lip smackers."  There were many tales people recounted about eating their favorite chapstick.  Sometimes by nibble, sometimes by lick.  Then I ran across a very important fact:

LIP SMACKERS ARE NOT GLUTEN FREE

These days we all know people who are gluten intolerant, which makes me heart sad, but I digress.  Please don't eat your lip smackers if you are Gluten Free.  Here is a list of the Bonnie Bell products you may ingest  :)

http://eatglutenfreelikeme.blogspot.com/2010/07/lip-smackers-not-gluten-free.html

So to summarize, as you can tell, I do very scientific research for my blogs and I encourage eating chap stick.  I just hope lip smackers will start making pickled flavored lip gloss.  Until then, Van Holten's chapstick will keep my lips moist and my nose happy.

Pickles and the New Year!

Happy 2012!  A new year, new resolutions and of course new pickles!  As big pickle fans know, Mt. Olive has a pickle drop each year.  This is a family friendly event, so it actually occurs at 7:00 pm.  Here is a link to the 2009 drop:

Mt Olive Pickle Drop

Dillsburg Bourough, PA also has a pickle drop, which I just recently found out.  In fact, Dillsburg actually drops two pickles.  Miss Pickle drops at 7:00 pm est, which is midnight GMT and part of the reason Mt. Olive drops at this time, but Mr Pickle drops at midnight eastern time to ring in the real new year in this small rural town.  This year is Dillsburg's 19th drop.  While in terms of a tradition, that is not terrible old, it does seem to be a tradition the town loves and brings visitors to this small town.

Dillsburg Drop

I didn't really make any resolutions on New Year's Eve.  The year before went well for me and my family.  I am making a late resolution.  I really want to go to a Pickle Festival.  There are several to chose from, so I will have to be thinking what is the most cost effective and time effective location for me to attend.

This summer I will be visiting the Big Apple and might be able to tag a pickle festival onto that, although I know the International Pickle Festival is in the fall.  At any rate, I will figure it out.

I did want to give a shout out to the Better Cheddar.  I have ordered McClure's pickles from them before, but I actually visited the store over Thanksgiving weekend.  I usually buy my McClure's at Williams and Sonoma, where they usually only have a couple jars at a time.  The Better Cheddar had a whole wall!  They also carried the Bloody Mary Mix, the Brine and the Chips!  My mother, who is the most awesome Mom ever, got my some brine for Christmas and I gave jar of the Bloody Mary Mix, to my dear Boodly Mary drinking friend Kristin!  If you are in the Kansas City Area, this store is a must.

http://www.thebettercheddar.com/

Happy New Year all you pickle lovers!