Sweet, sour and stinky

I've taken the day off of work. Not because I'm shopping , not because I'm sneaking out to catch a movie, not because anything of interest is happening. I am, in fact, taking the day off of work because I threw out my back last night while sweeping. It's not very noble, not something I'm proud of... however, I would like to point out, I do sweep and that must count for something.

So at any rate, here I am at home, presumably lying on my side in the fetal position with a heating pad tied to my back. Presumably. The reality is, I'm no good at sitting still. I hate it. I can't stand the television being on during the day, and it's far too lovely outside for me to stay in and read a book. I can't sit down without increasing my suffering, but I can walk. For some reason standing up and walking around is not a problem.



Because of my itch to move around and the lovely weather I grabbed an orange and walked around my garden slowly in circles while eating said orange. I live and die by the idea that spending lots of time staring at my garden will encourage it to grow more quickly. This has never proven true, but I can't seem to stop myself from checking up on it every 4-6 hours. So that is what I did.

Incidentally, nothing looks like it grows in 4-6 hour increments. Nonetheless, I persist. My garden is moving ever so slowly. There are signs that I may be eating broccoli, kohlrabi and turnips in the near future. Besides that the only thing really ready for eating are the lettuces and the radishes.

As I rounded the circle nearest the radishes for the fourth time, orange in hand, I remembered my brave experiment from this weekend. I have ever so many radishes, radishes practically leaping out of the garden. I have to be honest, I don't tend to eat my radishes with gusto. I plant radishes for the same reason I suspect many people plant them. They grow so very easily, they make even the clumsiest gardener feel like a pro. They are also ridiculously cute. This fact, however, has not encouraged me to eat them any more frequently.



Well, last weekend, after a bevy of very uncommon nighttime freezes, I decided it was now or never with these radishes. I didn't know how many more icy nights they could take. I decided to use a favorite Thai-inspired cucumber salad recipe to "pickle" my radishes. That way they'd at least last longer in my fridge.

So I whipped up the salad, let the radishes marinate for about an hour and had a taste. They were nothing short of yucky and disappointing. However, my Depression-era food hoarding self will not allow me to toss things that easily. I decided to let the radishes marinate. I then forgot all about them. Until this afternoon as I rounded the bend over to the radish section of the garden.



I finished my orange and hobbled back inside (yes, I'm walking, but it's not my normal triumphant and confident gait, it's definitely a bit toned down, to a hobble in fact). I carefully squatted down, only using my knees, and dug the radishes out of the fridge. I opened the jar and my head was blown back by a smell that most closely resembled a fart. Thinking of the Durian fruit though, I decided to let the fart smell fade and then taste the radishes. When I say I have a Depression-era mentality, I'm not kidding. Well, thank goodness for my food hoarding. I think I may have discovered one of the tastiest sweet hot veggies of all sweet hot veggies! The radishes maintained their pepper-y bite, but lost any other flavor and instead took on the sweet and sour flavor of the vinegar-y sugar-y brine. It's a fantastic combination

I was beyond pleasantly surprised and quickly hobbled back outside, carefully squatted down and gathered as many other ripe radishes as I could find to drop into the brine. Next time though, I think I'll take the jar outside before I open it.

Pickled Radishes

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 shallot, diced
1 - 1 1/2 tsp chili-garlic sauce
2 cups chopped radishes

Combine water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Mix to dissolve sugar. Bring mixture to a boil and boil till slightly thickened, about 2 mins.

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. In a container that has a tight lid combine the brine you made, chopped radishes, shallots and chili-garlic sauce.

Let sit for 2-3 days before tasting.