My birthday is next week, and just in time for Valentine’s Day, this company just came up with a pickle bouquet! While I like flowers as much as the next girl, I’ll take this any day of the week and twice on Sunday! Feel free to send #saltygirl a bouquet.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/someone-seriously-just-made-pickle-181000431.html

West of Metro Atlanta lies a town desperately torn between whether or not it’s part of the nation’s 9th largest city. Douglasville, Georgia sports its fair share of locally owned restaurants, and the go-to for pizza is Fabiano’s on Broad Street.

An upstate New York restaurant posted photos of the first pickle pizza I’d ever seen. Unlikely to ever venture off that beaten path, I was thrilled to see that Fabiano’s took the pizza pickle plunge! I called Douglasville home for 14 years, and my son was born there. We were back visiting friends over the holidays and had to stop in.

Pickle Pizza isn’t on the main menu, but runs as a special. It didn’t take much pleading from me for the chef to overhear my request and offer to make me a pie.

The thin,  crispy crust held up  beautifully underneath the white, garlicky, olive-oily seasoned sauce base. Circles of dill pickle chips maintained their crunch, while the juice baked into the sauce for a punch of flavor. The top is dusted with more dill for a perfect finishing touch.

If you ever make your way out past 6 Flags on I-20 in Georgia and find yourself in need of a blossom of briny dill cucumber heaven atop a crispy, garlic crust, make your way into Fabiano’s.

 

So I took a month off from the blog, as November was rough.  My mother had been in and out of the hospital this year with various issues, but always bounced back rather quickly. This time seemed no different. She was being discharged and aspirated her medication. The doctor had to place her on a ventilator. That’s when I got the “you need to get here ASAP” phone call. Delta was extremely helpful in getting my son and I emergency medical tickets 659 miles north.

The following day she was completely unresponsive, and it became clear that we were doing things “to” her and not “for” her. We spent the day talking with hospice, assuring her that we would make her comfortable. The next day, her niece came to visit and say goodbye. Her amazing nurse said that she wasn’t expected to make it through the day. I had the doctors remove support, and they added anti-anxiety and different pain medication. She took her last breath 15 minutes later.

I was born in the same hospital, and delivered to her in the parking lot one week later by the adoption team. When I walked out on a similar winter night, I saw the largest giant arc of a shooting star over the river. She let me know that she arrived at her next destination.

So between the funeral, traveling to clean out her place, quite a bit of business travel in between, and getting ready for Christmas, I am getting ready to kick off the new year by weeding through this delicious, briny heap!

Stay tuned for more, invite your friends, and have a meaningful holiday season and purposeful new year.

Welcome to my freezer! A torn into box of hash browns that my son eats for breakfast with an egg and Trader Joe’s butter chicken cradle a genius idea. Pickle vodka.

On their web site, “Regardless of where you enjoy your Chilled Dills pickle flavored vodka, there’s a little beach in every bottle” rings true. I live at the beach, and pickle vodka makes the beach that much better.

Distilled and bottled in Charleston, SC, Chilled Dills is also available in North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and by mail in many states. Liquor laws are tricky things.

Their web site has recipes and ideas on how to enjoy. It’s popular in Bloody Mary’s around Charleston; straight up chilled or on the rocks is flat out adult pickle juice. It’s a little thicker than plain vodka and has almost a creamy feel to it. But the flavor is a perfect dilly, salty, vinegary dream. Although I’m not sure there’s any vinegar in their patented process. I clearly need to take a tour.

My son hates all things pickles – that really raises some other questions – and I get to see that perfected teen-aged eye-roll every time I bring home a new pickle-flavored thing that will one day grace this blog. He recently said, “Mom, I swear, if they made pickle-flavored vodka, you’d drink it.” I opened the freezer and showed him this. I got an eye-roll AND a head shake. Mission accomplished.

Tucked away on Johns Island, SC, around the corner from the famous Angel Oak Tree and not far from downtown Charleston, lies a tiny market that serves up an impressive menu of sandwiches, inventive specials, novelty items like Naturally Blonde Bloody Mary Mix and ginger vinegar, gazpacho, pickles, produce, steaks, and arguably one of the best crab cakes I’ve ever had. It was like a giant crab marshmallow.

I went in for a jar of pickles from another vendor (that’s another post for another day), and the butcher directed me toward their own homemade pickles. Whole cucumbers sliced in half were jammed into a cloudy brine of what seems to be mustard seed, crushed red pepper, onion, and caraway seeds. I don’t see any traces of dill!

Crunchy and crispy and not appearing to have been cooked, the sharp vinegar hits the back of the throat on first bite. Perfectly salty, this is a pickle for any occasion: grilling, sandwiches, or just by itself. I added the juice to a Bloody Mary for a perfect sour bite in my favorite brunch cocktail. It’s also a martini-worthy brine!

Blackbird Farms & Market is a true farm – to – table experience. I have eaten in many Charleston restaurants that list Blackbird as one of their sources. So these perfect cukes were born on either Wadmalaw Island, SC or Hendersonville, NC – or perhaps transported here from Asheville or Columbia farmers markets according to the Market’s Facebook page.

 

Picking the world’s best pickles one pick at a time!

#justaddvinegar

#drinkthejuice

Pickles are a thing. They have been a thing for a while. What started as a method of preserving food merely to survive has turned into a booming craft industry, hobby, boutique marketing phenomenon. Pickles are fairly inexpensive, easy to make, with a long shelf life.

I’ve never met a pickle I didn’t like. But I’ve met many that I like better than others. Pickle-flavored popcorn, chips, garlic, vegetables, ice cream and even a giant gummy pickle will be reviewed on here. You might even learn some history or find me at a festival featuring what else? Pickles!

How do I rate/review all this vinegary, salty deliciousness? I like what I like, so I compare it against my taste bud tally. I prefer crunchy, uncooked, and salty. I prefer whole or half to spears or slices. But if it is sliced, I prefer thin to thick.

One of my early memories was walking around with a Heinz Genuine Dill wrapped in a paper towel to contain the juice. Growing up in Pittsburgh, back when they still made the ketchup there, driving across the bridge by the factory in July and smelling the overwhelming waft of vinegar and rotten tomatoes was heaven.

I will review and post on Pickle Picker, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and tag your company or restaurant if you have a page.