Pickles! I did it!

Wednesday, I had a class canceled in the morning.

I took it as a sign - well, I saw I had a chance.

So I went to a local produce stand (as in, the stand was local, not the produce... bizarre, but I guess it's a little early). They had a big basket of pickling cucumbers, $1.29 a pound. I bought more than I thought I needed, planning to make two jars immediately and then one more in the future. I got lucky, though, because I had exactly one extra pickle from those two jars.

I followed a recipe I found on a popular cooking forum, adjusting when I couldn't find certain things.

There was habenero and jalapeño peppers, baby dill, all sorts of spices, and a head of garlic between the two jars. Oh, and 4 cukes each. the brine was 1:1 water and vinegar, with some amount of pickling spice, I forget.

First: Cut everything and put it the jar. This is a good opportunity to make it look very pretty.

Then make the brine, and boil it for 2-3 minutes.

Finally, strain the hot brine into the jars, leaving a bit of headroom so a seal can form.

One of mine didn't seal properly, so it went into the fridge. I expect it to still pickle fine, though.

They should be ready in about a week! I'm very excited, because I can already see the colors changing in there, looking more pickly!