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.

Plum Blueberry Ginger Jam and a minty map table

The Farmers Market: Plum Blueberry Ginger Jam What a great month to kick off this new blog. It's July and the fresh produce is plentiful. As a kid, I remember summer evenings were made for catching fireflies in mason jars with little holes poked in the lids. I love mason jars. So much, in fact, that I've decided to dedicate each weekly post this month to those jars of my childhood. This week, I bought a pound of plums at my favorite vendor at The Reading Terminal in Philadelphia. I decided to try my hand at a simple jam recipe that doesn't involve the process of full on canning. The downside? I can't store it in the cabinet to use in six months from now. The upside? It's so delicious that it's almost gone. I've been spreading the love on everything from bread to oatmeal to graham crackers. Sometimes I eat it by the spoonful straight from the mason jar. It's a sweet jam with plums, blueberries and a hint of ginger. So easy to make too. I can't wait to try all sorts of simple fruit jams.

Plum Blueberry Ginger Jam
2 1/2 cups ripe plums, chopped
1 cup fresh whole blueberries
1 teaspoon ginger (powder)
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sugar

1. Wash the plums. I used about 6 plums to achieve the 2 1/2 cups. Put a small ceramic plate in the freezer. This plate will be used later to determine if the jam is cooked enough to set or not.

2. Cut the washed plums. Remove the pits. Chop in to small pieces. Wash the blueberries, keeping them whole.

3. Heat the plum pieces, blueberries, ginger, lemon juice and sugar over medium heat in a saucepan.

4. Stir constantly to completely dissolve the sugar, about 4-5 minutes.

5. Let the mixture cook over medium heat. When it starts to boil, reduce to a simmer uncovered until the plums and blueberries become soft and tender. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. As the plums cook, they will get darker.

6. Cook until the mixture thickens.

7. Remove the plate from the refrigerator and place a spoonful of jam on it. Put the plate back in to the freezer for another minute and remove again. To text the jam's readiness, run your finger through the center of the jam. If it is clear where you ran your finger through, it's done. If not, cook it another 5 minutes and test again.

8. When the jam is ready, remove from heat and allow the mixture to rest for a few minutes. Transfer to a mason jar with an airtight lid and store in refrigerator. Good for at least 2 weeks. This recipe yielded approximately 1 1/2 cups of jam.

The Find: A minty map table This week's find is an old side table that I picked up at a local yard sale for a walloping three dollars. Old school. Solid wood and construction. I love the shelf which will neatly organize a pile of books, leaving the top free and clear for a cleaner look. The drawer is plenty big enough to house lots of other things. I see this piece as a bedside table. I mixed up some chalk paint using a beautiful pale mint paint called Distant Valley. Since I love maps so much, I decorated the drawer with three panels of an italian map. I stripped the hideous outdated drawer pulls and replaced them with simple antiqued gold knobs. I think this looks like one happy bedside table now!