On the Menu: Pickle Martinis

I wish this was more common. The one listed above is from the Patois menu here in New Orleans. Pickle juice is so tasty in a drink... every single time I've taken a jar of pickles to a bar and asked for a pickle martini, anyone around who also tries it has walked away a fan. What's stopping YOU?

Pickle Juice (on Ice)

When I was a kid the best summer treat was a big 'ol sno cone from Loretta's Sno Cone Hut-a small aluminum shed that would magically appear in the hottest spot (literally and figuratively) in town, the Wal-Mart parking lot- and stay until the next school year began. I'm ashamed to admit that as a young pickle freak I never even DREAMED of a pickle juice sno cone but I was known to take shaved ice and poke it down into my actual pickle to exaggerate the tartness of my concession stand treat.

Well, maybe I shoulda been born in Texas. There the pickle juice sno cone is a common treat as this pic taken by a friend suggests and is evidence of a people who know how to beat the heat.

Well, the folks in Texas may have ONE up on us in new Orleans, but don't get TOO cocky yet ya hear?
If you happen to know me personally, you should be well aware of my new obsession with a NOLA treat called the Sno Ball. Don't call it a Sno CONE, because it's NOT-it's much more fine than a sno..ugh..i don't even want to SAY IT (cone). See, we took the shaved ice all you other people know and love and spun it into something else. Yeah, SNOW. Well, at least one place has and it's the holy grail of sno ball joints-Hansen's Sno Bliz-old man Hansen invented his own fine shaving ice machine and the result is unlike anything I've ever had. I'd rather eat a sno bliz snoball than any other sweet thing in the whole wide world.

So now let's put some pickle juice on it!



Actually somebody already has, at another snoball joint called "Droopy's"-they use sour pickle juice and will even poke a pickle down the middle of your snoball if you ask nicely but they are waayyy out in the 'burbs and as I don't have a car, I haven't ventured out to Droopy's....but you KNOW I WILL but in the meantime, I'm making friends with the kids at Hansen's so if (when) I show up there with a jar of pickles they won't even blink...

Oh! You Wanna See?

Oh-you wanna see my tender young cucumber plants? Well, here's my little patch, my first time experiment with growing just about anything. I have no idea if this container is big enough but I'll wait and see what happens.


Here's a close up of my plants-it's interesting how the leaves are shaped differently and what is that white stuff?
Please share any tips YOU have and does anyone know how long it will take before they bloom and start producing? Obviously I'm just watering them and keeping my fingers crossed at this point.