I learned through Twitter that the husband of Trip’n Mommy, sometimes known as Trip’n Daddy, has died after his battle with lymphoma. His name in real life is Barry Shuter. Sometimes, if you read enough of someone’s tweets, you feel like you know them. Trip’n Mommy has a blog called Trip’n Up, named after her triplets.
May his wife and children be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Update: Ruti Mizrachi wrote a post Barry, we hardly knew ye.
We visited New Hope, PA last Sunday – we went on a train ride, visited the old Parry House and browsed in some shops. This photo of the bridge over the canal is my entry for Sunday Bridges.
Want to win some free postcards (put your photos on them, use them for your business, or create a fun design)? Visit my Postcard Giveaway Contest to learn more.
FYI, Laura was right about the pickles: ours fermented a few days longer, and they were sharper and more sour! Yum. Use plenty of garlic, if you love the garlic flavor.
Here’s a photo of the bridge in sepia:
This graceful ballet dancer is performing a scene from Alice in Wonderland (she plays Alice). As the room was not well lit, I found it easier set the camera to take photos in sepia than in full color. You will have to imagine the white with a bit of pale blue dress.
Ah, she has fallen. Perhaps she has just come down the rabbit hole.
For more sepia photos, visit:
Update: Here is the Alice in Wonderland music by Avril Lavigne that the girls used for their dance.
• • •
Would you like to win free postcards of your very own photos? Or postcards for your business or cards with photos of your kids. Visit Postcard Giveaway and Catchy Title Contest and leave a comment to enter.
This blog got an overhaul this morning, but you may not notice many changes (feel free to comment on the ones you do notice). I updated the theme of the blog to a child of the Twenty Ten theme. What does that mean in English? It just means the code is more 2010 than the previous theme, which I created myself from scratch in 2007. So it helps me out technically with adding new plugins to the blog, such as the Add This plugin so you can easily share a post on your favorite social media site, such as Facebook or Twitter.
There is a contest on my other site, Websites for Small Biz, that offers free postcards. Yay – my first giveaway. Stay tuned to either of these blogs to learn more.
The girl? She’s my daughter in Winter 2009. She’s taller now and even more graceful a dancer.
It sounds daunting, making your own pickles, but the trick is assembling the ingredients and equipment. The rest is throwing it together and patience. You don’t want to use vinegar in your pickles – the whole idea is to create your own fermentation, so you can reap the benefits of the good bacteria from pickling. This recipe was inspired by the Sour Pickles recipe in Sandor Ellix Katz’s book Wild Fermentation.
Place the spices, leaves, garlic and cucumbers in the container. Sprinkle at least 3 tsp. of sea salt on top. Pour water into the container so that it covers the pickles. If you want, you can then add some more salt. Sandor Katz suggests covering the pickles with a plate and a weight; since I don’t have a plate that small (he was using a big bucket instead of a jar), I used a smaller jar lid from a different jar and two rocks to weigh down the pickles. Cover with cloth and rubber band.
Check the pickles every day. If a little mold is growing on the top of the pickles, wash off the mold. The pickles may be ready in a week or in two. My first batch tasted a bit like a mild sour pickle after one week of soaking in the brine and spices.
• • •
If you like homemade pickles, maybe you will enjoy homemade sauerkraut, too.