Camping Trip Number 2

We love camping, and wish that we could do it more often (well, at least I love camping and wish we could do it more often!).

This time around we went to Beaver Brook Campground in North Monmouth. We carpooled with the Higgins' which was fun. We were the first people there and we were psyched with the sites that we got! It was three sites with their own little driveway and there was a bonus fire pit right in the middle. We decided to make the middle area the party spot and the other sites the sleeping spots. We decided to set our tent up in the same spot as Josh and Becky. I thought that our tent was big. . theirs is huge! It has a center area and then has three little rooms off the central entry! Craziness!

Anyways, Brad and Katie showed up and started setting up their tent on a different site. . .only to find out that something had gotten into the shed where the tent was stored and chewed holes in the tent! Not good considering the bugs and the giant rain storm that was supposed to be headed our way! They went down to the camp store and got a patch kit and some duct tape!!

We managed to get the tents set up, as well as the dining canopy and another tarp before the rains started. And boy did it rain!! We huddled under the canopy playing cards. At one point we realized that the picnic table under the canopy was unfortunately situated in a low area, so the puddle around our feet just grew and grew! Eventually we moved to the other picnic table under the tarp. At one point the rain was so loud that we could barely hear eachother speaking! There was a lull between storms, but it rained for a long time!

We were lucky though, it did stop later in the evening, and it only rained lightly through the night. We got plenty of phone calls Friday night with people deciding that they were going to stay home rather than try to set up their tents in the dark and rain. Jason and Amy did show up just in time for us all to go to bed! They slept in the tent, and I think that the rest of us stayed pretty dry. . .well, other than Katie and Brad!

Saturday morning looked pretty good, and all of the people that were supposed to show up on Friday night made it to the campground fairly early (which is good since I had forgotten yeast for the english muffins!!!) Breakfast got underway. . .although I guess I should really call it brunch. .or even lunch! Once again, our gigantic frying pan did a spectacular job of cooking breakfast over the fire! Oh, and Derrick did an ok job too:) And, we had english muffins with homemade jam for desert! After breakfast, the guys and Amy and I went disc golfing, and everyone else went to the campground pool. It was an extremely hot day, and we were all very happy to jump in the pool after disc! The boys decided to go out for another round after lunch, and us girls spent the afternoon around the campfire. We then got to feast on a bucket of bbq meat that Jason had prepared, and Amy had diligently stirred all afternoon! I am sure that Katie will agree that the highlight of the evening was her trip to the ER due to breathing problems. Apparently sleeping in a moldy tent is not so good for you! Needless to say Katie and Brad did not stay the night again on Saturday.

Sunday was a little bit overcast, but we were hoping that any rain would hold off until we were all backed up. Kelsey and Blinky made breakfast while Josh, Becky, Steve-O, Derrick, and I packed up our tents. We left around 11 and Derrick and I just went home and cleaned and vegged for the rest of the day. Exciting ending, I know!!

For more pictures from our camping trip, click here.

Love, Sarah

Spicy Dill Pickles

Whereas most of the recipes that I have been using for canning come from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (thanks Tracey!), the recipe that I use for my spicy dill pickles is a family recipe. More specifically, it is my Great-Great Aunt Elva's recipe, relayed to my mother as well as my Great-Grandmother could remember it!


For some reason, I have never been able to make a batch that tastes as good as the ones I used to eat every Thanksgiving! There was always a jar in the door of the refrigerator at the house in Magalloway, and I had to restrain myself from eating the entire jar the very first day! Yum Yum! I guess those kinds of flavors just can't be duplicated!

Anywho, here is the recipe! (this recipe makes about 9 quart jars, and I would recommend using the wide mouth jars)

Elva's Spicy Dill Pickles

9 cups of water

9 cups of white vinegar

1 cup of pickling or canning salt

@ 27 pickling cucumbers, ends trimmed and sliced lengthwise (to make spears,
you know what they should look like. . .)

Mustard Seeds

Red Pepper Flakes

Fresh Dill

@27 Garlic Cloves, pealed

1. Prepare the jars and lids (I put the jars through the dishwasher with no
detergent, and I boil the lids in a saucepan on the stove)

2. Combine the water, vinegar, and salt in a large pot. Bring the mixture to
a boil, stirring occasionally to disolve the salt.

3. Pack the cucumbers in the jars, we estimate a total of about 3 cucumbers
per jar, but just keep packing them in until you can't pack anymore!

4. In each jar add a few sprigs of the dill, about three garlic cloves, a pinch of mustard seed, and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes.

5. Fill each jar with the hot vinegar mixture to within about 1/2-1/4 inch of the rim. Release any airbubbles and add more vinegar mixture as necessary.

6. Wipe the edge of the rim. Center lid on the jar and screw on the lid rim. Place the jars in canner full of boiling water so that the water just covers the jars. Place the lid on the canner and process for about 10 minutes. Remove the jars and place them upside to cool.

You may notice that there is a big vat of chili in the background of the pictures. I just wanted to let you know that the chili is not part of the recipe and is not required in order for your pickles to be a success. . .but, it doesn't hurt to have something to eat once you have finished all the cleaning up though:)

Love, Sarah

Pat's Game!!

On August 20th, Derrick got to go to a Pat's Game with some coworkers/friends. A coworker just happens to have season tickets, and although it was just a pre-season/exibition game, they were on the 10 yard line and in the third row! I wish that I had gotten to go with them, but maybe next time!

For pictures of the chearleaders. . .I mean of the game. . .click here: http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/Patriots%20Game%202009/

Love, Sarah

Zesty Bread and Butter Pickles

We haven't really been up to anything overly interesting, so I am going to try interspersing my regular posts with recipes and pictures of the canning and cooking that I do! We really enjoy making delicious canned items using our harvest and getting to share the bounty with our family and friends! It is a lot of work, but the finished product is worth it and the more that I can the better I get! And, I need to practice if we are ever going to open Cote's Cafe and Pickle Emporium (aka, Pickle Me Silly)!!

Our cucumber crop has been particularly good this year, so I have been pickling up a storm! I started with Zesty Bread and Butter Pickles, which contain cucumbers AND onions from the garden!

Zesty Bread and Butter Pickles

10 cups sliced trimmed pickling cucumbers (I used field
cucumbers)

4 medium onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup pickling or canning salt

3 cups white vinegar

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tbsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp prepared horseradish

2 tbsp grated gingerroot

1. In a glass or stainless steel bowl, combine cucumbers, onions and salt. Mix well, cover with cold water and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Transfer to a colander placed over a sink, rinse with cool running water and drain thoroughly.

2. Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars and lids.

3. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, horseradish, and gingerroot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in vegetables and return to a boil.

4. Pack vegetables into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid in to jar to cover vegetables, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

I usually cool them upside down. It is something that my mother taught be to do.

And, this is what the finished product looks like! Don't they look delicious? I am so excited at how they came out and am proud that our garden produces such wonderful vegetables!

Oh yeah, and this is what Derrick looks like after almost slicing off the tip of his finger. . . Thanks for your help honey!

We finally got the cds with the professional wedding pictures so we will be able to get our prints and fill frames soon! Can't wait!

Other than that, I don't think there is much going on. Stay tuned for a post about Derrick's trip to the Pat's game and our weekend of camping, as well as another pickle post at some point!

Love, Sarah

Guster!!

On August 8th (I know, I know, it has been a long time since I have blogged!) Derrick and I went to Baystock to see Guster! We met up with Blinky and Kelsey before the show and went to a Thai buffet place on Congress street that we had been wanting to go to for a while. We were severly disapointed though. . .especially since Derrick had read a review that they had the best Pad Thai in Portland! That is a very bold claim, and while the Pad Thai was pretty good, it wasn't quite the best ever! We then went to Beal's for some icecream and then walked down to the Maine State Pier for the show and to meet up with Nate and Stacey!
For those of you that have never been to or heard of Baystock, it is a benefit concert sponsored by Wright Express (which is how I heard about it!). Proceeds go to benefit the Jessie BC Fund which is a children's cancer charity. I think this was the sixth year that they have had the concert. It used to be a two day event, but now is just one evening on the pier. They have a beer garden, and this year I think it went all the way down to the stage! We were not as close as I would have liked to be, and it was tough to get a good picture of the band, but we scored a railing to lean on, so we were lucky! We got there in time to listen to one of the opening bands, Gypsy Tailwind. They were really good!

And then Guster came on! We had a blast singing along and watching the crowd! There was a lady in front of us that had NO rythm whatsoever! It was hilarious! And then the super drunk girl behind us managed to catch herself on fire (her friend put it out pretty quickly) which was a little bit scary! But, the night air was wonderful and it was great to watch the big sailboats coming into port! Guster is a great band, and I hope they come back to Maine again soon! Derrick thinks I have a thing for the drummer, since I was trying so hard to get a good picture of him! I really wanted to get a good picture of him in action since he drums primarily with his hands rather than sticks!! It is really quite amazing!

There isn't really anything else new! I will be posting about pickle making soon!

To see more pictures of the show and other pictures from August, click here: http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/August%202009/

Love, Sarah

We are getting old!

This has been a wonderful weekend! Friday night we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and spent our wedding gift certificates. We were going to get a new, smaller trash can. . .but we ended up getting one that was the same size! So we will have to take it back and exchange it. We also got a new bed set! It is very pretty, and it goes pretty well with the bright orange walls! We then went to watch the new Harry Potter movie at the iMax in Saco! The first twelve minutes are in 3D,and the movie was pretty good! Not nearly as good as the book, but then again, they never are!

Saturday I went and got my hair cut for Locks of Love again! Ten inches gone, just like that!

We spent the rest of the day outside! I read all day while Derrick worked on the lawnmower. . .again! He wasn't able to get it fixed, so we had to call the small engine repair guy that worked on the snowblower. He came and took a look at it, but couldn't figure it out so he had to take it to his shop.

Saturday night was Katie and Kelsey's 30th birthday bash! We went to Josh and Becky's for dinner, and then caught a ride with them down to Westbrook. The party was a good time, with some flip cup and pong. But, we are getting old and left with the Farrar's around midnight!

And now it is Sunday and it is cloudy and supposed to rain. So there goes all of the things we were thinking about doing for the day! The weekend goes by so fast and I really think that it should be longer!

That is all for now!

Love, Sarah