Mary Queen of...Pickles?

Pickles????

Yup. I brought a jar of pickles I made to my niece's end of year preschool BBQ, and they were a huge hit. Pickles! They were gone in like 2 seconds and I found myself collecting play date cards so I could email the recipe! 

I love pickles! When I was a kid, all the other kids walked around the grocery store with cookies. I sat quietly in our cart with a pickle wrapped in wax paper. Our old neighbor, Big John, he made THE BEST pickles.  He grew up on an Onion Farm in Pine Island. When my parents moved in across the street (from the BRONX) Big John had a turtle hanging on the line to make soup.  He had the most amazing garden and he and his wife canned and jarred everything. So all the country things I know (the difference btwn poisonous plants and plants you can eat, and how to hook a worm) I owe to Big John. And every time I make his pickle recipe, I think of him, and the stalks of dill by the front door that grew over my head, and the brown paper bag of green peppers and kirby cukes he'd leave at our door early on summer mornings. 

I thought for a while before I emailed out the recipe. I thought about NOT giving it out. Then I thought... How many people even can and jar things from their garden anymore? Or make turtle soup? Isn't this the self-sufficient life yuppie parents dream of? Well, for Big John and Babci, it just was, it was what they did, not because it was cool, green, trendy, or making a political statement about the conspiracy of corn syrup... And I honestly think it would be an injustice if I kept this recipe to myself...So here it is. Just do me a favor, while you're making them, give Big John a nod. 

You will need:

24 oz. jar sterilized in boiling water

4 kirby cucumbers

Small stalk of fresh dill

2 garlic cloves

A few black pepper corns

3/4 c. white vinegar

4c.hot water

2 tablespoons Uniodized Salt

Cut cucumbers and garlic cloves into slices. 

Combine warm water and vinegar and stir in salt until dissolved. 

Layer cucumbers, dill, garlic cloves and pepper corns, tightly packed 

and pour salt/water/ vinegar mixture until cukes are fully covered. 

Close jar tightly and store in a cool dark place for 3 days. 

And then come back and tell me that these are not the best pickles you've ever had. 

You're welcome! 

Just Another Saturday...

Don't be fooled, I was hard at work right before we took this picture! Warwick held its Bridal Event today and Charlotte's Tea Room donated tea sands and sweets for a mock reception at Lewis Park. The weather was perfect, aside from doilie blowing wind. This dress I'm wearing, well besides completely restoring my faith that there really is genuine kindness out there, was the perfect thing to wear for the event (even if I was working it, well I was  WORKING it). This stunning Battenburg Lace dress was a gift from a customer of ours. She knows I have a love for vintage fashion and she knew it would fit me perfectly. It also came with a matching jacket and...a parasol!!! Well, the Summer's just begun, so you'll be seeing the full outfit again I'm sure. 

Oh, and this head piece I'm wearing is my new favorite thing. I didn't wear the whole event, but I have been wearing it all week, even though I got it to wear (only) to the pool. My hair has been insane lately while I'm growing out for the wedding and my bangs are so long! I'm not really used to having long hair, so I've been slipping this baby on my head and tucking all my hair into it. I've been inclined to wear this turban with my big black sunglasses and red lipstick...NBD, just hanging out! 

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Well  Manchester lost to Barcelona today. I'm not a huge football fan, pretentious enough to call it
 "football" though. John's a Utd fan, and I'm a fan of England in general, so we're just a mess over here!!
But the lucky charm scones I made for the big game were definitely winners.

The Manchester Mashed Potato Scone. Yes, Sir Alex Ferguson loves potato scones. Although he's a Scotsman, Scottish scones are a bit more like crumpets, but nobody has to know that. Our patrons at the shop didn't really get the connection but they were enjoyed none the less. I explained it to one man (a long time scone fan) and he appreciated it. He even took one home to have for breakfast with some eggs...and some blood pudding? Haggis? 

So lesson learned: Good Scones do not mean great Football victories. But they were really yummy. I added chives and sour cream and the mashed potatoes maintained their fluffiness but it was still crumbly like a scone. 

So here's some more ideas for sports related scones...

Chicago Cubs Deep Dish Scone?  Bronx Bomber Pizza Scone? Savory Sabre Buffalo and Blue Cheese Scone? Dallas Cowboys Chipotle Scones? 

I think I'm on to something...gimme a box to wear around my neck and some singles so I can quickly make change. 

Scones here! Gettcher scones here! Fresh baked scones here! 

Long Weekend...

Well, for most, for me it's just another busy work weekend. But Monday is my favorite holiday.  Memorial Day! I love it! Kick off to summer with beer and bbq, and MY favorite part...a parade of old men! I never miss the parade! (Although it's sadly getting shorter and shorter, if you blink you MIGHT miss it!! ) Oh, I can't wait!
Since it is also Fleet Week, I'm sharing my very own fleet of cute sailor inspired dresses for the weekend, and the rest of the summer...

Everyone, enjoy the long weekend!!

Cinco de Oh My!

My little niece is making me so proud this week with her love of "outfits for every occasion." I'm sure it's driving my sister nuts, but sometimes you need a safari outfit, a tea party dress, a play outside dress, etc. Well, in case you were wondering where she got this notion from (I think it stems from my mom actually) here is more proof that I do, indeed, have an outfit for every occasion. 

Yup, that's a vintage skirt and a vintage apron (both gifts from Joanne) with a very Mexican theme.  And in case you really can't make it out, it's a chicken. One is being held upside down and the other is running in the opposite direction. 

Well, sadly no one complimented me on this. I like to think it was because it was so OBVIOUS there was no need to mention it. Although I did tell my friend Arturo about it the day before and he liked the idea, that counts for something, right? 

April Awareness

Did you know April is Parkinsons Disease Awareness Month? I just found out myself. Actually, I thought it was Autism Awareness Month, but with more illnesses than there are months in a year, I guess we have to double up.
My dad was diagnosed with Parkinsons when I was young (er, some form of it) and passed away when  I was 17. This has certainly raised  my threshold for emotional stress and definitely increased my compassion and adoration  for elderly/sick people (still trying to figure out why I love Mexican babies so much). There was this one time when I was kid he asked me to make him a cup of coffee (the instant kind) and I woke up in the middle of the night realizing I had totally forgotten to make it for him. You can only imagine the guilt I felt, years later, when it came out that drinking coffee reduces the risks for Parkinsons. As if that one cup would've made all the difference!
But this is a blog about SCONES, not dead dads. Bare with me.
In my years working at the tea room, we've had a few customers battling cancer and can only stomach scones during chemo treatments. The few times I've made scones specifically for these people, I've made sure to add an extra helping of love and good vibes.
Enter Wilbur. He and his wife love my scones. Wilbur was recently diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and it really struck me. What do you do when love and good vibes aren't enough?
Here comes the SUPER SCONE!
I've designed a scone with all super food ingredients. Cherries, dark chocolate, matcha powder, and cinnamon. Protein counter acts a medication used to treat Parkinsons, (thank you pharm tech sister)  so instead of using eggs, I used some of that magic greek yogurt Dr. Oz keeps talking about. They were pretty dense. The cherries and chocolate taste great together and you could hardly notice the green tea and cinnamon, but I knew it was there, with all it's free radical fighting power!
Ok, so  I had this fantasy that my little Super Scone would cure Parkinsons Disease and Michael J. Fox would be my new best friend and I'd make my rounds on the morning show circuit...but in reality, it's just a scone. No, it's a Super Scone. And Wilbur liked it. To me, that's all that matters.
But, seriously,  how cool would it be to be BFF with MJFox?

Soul Mates

We all have one right? It's no secret I met my Soul Mate at the Beer Store (I think we met way before that, but "we met at the beer store" has a nice ring to it, so that's the story we'll stick to). A soul mate, the one person, once you meet them, you can't imagine your life without them, the one person who brings out your best qualities and laughs at your worst qualities, your perfect match.  Well, since the blog is about aprons, I'm not going to talk about me and mine.
I bought this dress last spring online at urban outfitters. From the pictures I couldn't tell the pin dots were purple, but I loved the shape, the drop waist, the color and the adorable bows....

About a year before a customer of ours was cleaning out her mother's house. And what did she find? A bunch of aprons! And what did she do with them? She, so kindly, washed and starched each one, wrapped them in tissue paper, put them in a paper bag, wrapped ribbon AROUND the paper bag...and gave them to me! It was like Christmas! There was a lot of gingham and flowers and cross stitch...and this baby...

Purple checks and salmon cross stitch...so by some cosmo intervention these two met on my laundry line one day, and it's been one of my favorite work outfits ever since. 

Soul Mates. Perfect Match. Let my bold lines bring out your tiny pin dots! 

The woman who gave me these is so sweet! She had lunch at the tea shop with a girl friend once when I was wearing one of her mother's aprons (you'll see the rest soon I promise) and was so pleased, almost teary eyed to see me wear it. "I can remember my mother wearing that apron," she said. And, I often bump into her Saturday mornings at the coffee shop when  I am wearing one of her aprons...we both get a laugh! Mostly because I'm wearing an apron...at a coffee shop...drinking coffee...in a cafe...next to the beer store...where I met my future husband. Our lives are full of circles, mine is careful cross stitches.