Sour Cucumbers

So, our neighbor, Sally, gave us some vegetables that she had just picked: cucumbers, onions and green peppers. Initially, Tom had turned down the offer of the vegetables, he doesn't care for most of those veggies, anyway, but to be neighborly, I accepted. After some thought, I realized they're just what I need for sour cucumbers, and I could throw the peppers in, too. Now, I've never made them before, so I dug out my mother's/grandmother's recipe and went to work.

Step 1. Slice the cucumbers. Check. I broke out the mandolin, set it to about 1/3 inch, and sliced up the cucumbers and onions. I also seeded the green peppers and cut them into strips. I threw everything into an old Blue Bonnet tub.
Step 2. Salt the cucumbers and let them set for 30 minutes. I salted everything, put the lid on the tub and shook it up, removed the lid, salted everything again, put the lid back on and shook it for a while more. It wasn't 30 minutes, but when everything looked all moist and juicy, I moved on to the next step.
Step 3. Rinse the cucumbers. I opened the tub, ran some water in it and drained it.
Step 4. Add water and vinegar in equal parts to cover cucumbers. I started with one cup of the mixture, but it didn't cover everything, so I added another ½ cup.
Step 5. Add onions. Since the onions (and the peppers) were already in the tub, this step was OBE.
Optional: Season to taste. Grandma likes to add pepper, Mom some sugar. So I added four heaping ¼ teaspoons of sugar substitute. After tasting it, I thought it didn't have the right sweet to sour ratio, so I added another four heaping ¼ teaspoons. I'm not sure how much that equaled, but that's what I did.

Well, I enjoyed it. It turned out well, almost like home-made - wait - it was home-made. What I meant was like Mom makes. It made good use of the vegetables that I was given, and they were a good accompaniment to lunch or dinner, or great just as a snack.

Crystal

Tom and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's "Crystal" this evening.

This show was unique in that it was an ice show, like Ice Capades, but with a Cirque du Soleil twist. The acts were woven into a storyline about a girl who doesn't fit in, and while she's out ice skating one day, falls through the ice into a different world. I was very impressed with how they were able to showcase their usual types of acts (juggling, straps, balancing) into this format, and still add new acts, keeping it fresh. Tom commented that he would consider this one his favorite, after Allegria. For me, Kà and Dralion hold top spots, mainly because of the powerful music, but I think they've all been very good.