Dill Pickles and The Blue Madonna

The Farmers Market: Dill Pickles I'm on week two of delicious things to put in mason jars. Summer is the perfect season for cold salads and grilling and I can't think of anything better than a nice, cold pickle spear to go alongside everything. If you're growing cucumbers in your own garden and have a bumper crop, this is an awesome way to use them up. Making refrigerator pickles is ridiculously simple. This week, because I knew I would be away on Saturday, I made my farmers market visit earlier in the week instead. This worked out better than expected because it takes a few days for the cucumbers to turn into pickles. So last night upon returning home from upstate New York, I ran straight to the refrigerator and grabbed one of the jars of pickles. Oh my. The pickles were not only delicious, they rivaled some of the best deli barrel pickles I've ever purchased at the grocery store. As God is my witness, I shall never buy store bought pickles again. My pickle spears have a nice crisp snap and are flavored just right. I think part of my secret is that I added lots of extra fresh dill and garlic cloves to my brining solution than what the original recipe called for. Also, I bought basic cucumbers. In fact, 4 regular sized cucumbers yielded 2 mason jars worth of pickles and by the time I post this, one jar is almost finished. Side note: this is a refrigerator dill pickle recipe which means no canning involved. The pickles last for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator but don't worry, they'll be gone way before then!

Refrigerator Dill Pickles
3 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon sea salt
4 regular size cucumbers, cut into quarters and each quarter cut in half (this will yield 8 spears per mason jar)
2 heads of fresh dill
2 cloves garlic, peeled and whole

 1. Stir water, vinegar, sugar and sea salt in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Cool completely.

 2. Using two mason jars, place 8 cucumber spears, a handful of fresh dill, and garlic cloves (I used 4) in each jar. Pour cooled vinegar mixture in each jar (it should come almost to the tops). Seal each mason jar and refrigerate for at least 3 days ( I waited a full 4 days). Pickles can be kept in refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.

The Find: The Blue Madonna

I've always had a love affair with religious medallions, crosses and images of the saints. I'm not sure where that came from as I was a very naughty Catholic girl (I purposely lit my program on fire during my first communion stroll down the aisle).  Yet here I am, all these years later, still enthralled with these religious items. My find this week comes from two places. I found the leaf segments in an old dusty box at the Golden Nugget Antique Market in Lambertville, NJ. There were plenty and I could kick myself that I didn't make an offer for all of them. These were the only segments with the gorgeous crystal blue flowers and pearls still intact. I wasn't quite sure what I would do with them until I found my second find, a Madonna prayer card, at the Browse Around thrift store in Ardmore, PA. I love this thrift store for so many reasons, but mainly because they always have a tin at the entrance with free medallions and prayer cards.

And The Blue Madonna was born. I had some blue crystal beads which I made into chain. I set the Madonna in an old locket, sealed her with resin and added some rhinestones.I added another big blue stone and pearl. I'm really happy with the way this turned out.