Picklin', cupcakes, and memories

I don't know about y'all, but we are sure feeling the summer heat this week.  Whenever the temps reach 90 degrees and above I always crave classic summertime foods and drinks.  Like right now, there is nothing better to me than a glass of lemonade.  I've ordered it at the last two restaurants I've eaten at, and yesterday at the grocery store I bought Country Time strawberry lemonade.  Remember the scene involving pink lemonade in the Sound of Music?  I digress.  Anyway, along with lemonade should be hotdogs, and with hotdogs there should be pickles.  Homemade pickles.  I made my first batch and could not have been more pleased.  Also, this recipe from allrecipes.com could not be more basic.  That was a big plus for me considering the fact that I have never "canned" a thing. 

*My mom gave me the nifty wavy slicer.

Homemade Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients:

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon salt
2 cups white sugar
6 cups sliced cucumbers
1 cup sliced onions
1 cup sliced green bell peppers

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil. Boil until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes.
2. Place the cucumbers, onions and green bell peppers in a large bowl. Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables. Transfer to sterile containers and store in the refrigerator.

What I learned while doing this:
1.  One large cucumber makes two cups of sliced cucumbers.  I only had two cucumbers, therefore, I had 4 cups of sliced cucumbers.
2.  I didn't reduce the amount of sugar, vinegar, and salt, because I figured I could just get rid of what I didn't need.  (I did not have to get rid of much.)
3. I did not have bell pepper on hand, but I added carrots.
4.  Everything fit into a quart sized mason jar.   

5.  They are good on top of hotdogs!

Now, onto cupcakes.  In my last post I mentioned that we were attending the RUF end of the year crawfish boil.  I helped out with dessert. 

Hav you ever heard of these?

If you are into rich chocolate desserts than these are for you!  I am not however, which is why I made them to take somewhere.  Oops, that was just a live blog confession.  Pioneer Woman would be proud of me.

I used my microplane to shave dark chocolate on top of the icing. 

 Once I was done I packed up my goodies and headed out to the party.

Attention: If you do not have one of these cupcake carriers you can fix that by going to Bed Bath & Beyond.  I'll never forget the days before these existed.  My mom would sign up to bring cupcakes to the church pot luck, and inevitably I was the one responsible for balancing the tray in my lap during the car ride there. Stressful.  But not anymore! 

Speaking of RUF functions, my brother Stephen came through Hattiesburg yesterday, on his way to RUF Summer Conference.  He called me and said he was pulling into Arby's for lunch, and that I should come see him.  Stephen and the people he was with were very excited about their week ahead.  As they should be.  You are infused with solid teaching, surrounded by great conversations, people, and God's wonderful beach creation.  I was incredibly sad that last year, was my last chance to go.  Despite the fact that I had graduated and was getting married in 3 weeks, I was determined to go.  So, I went.  I came back built up, refreshed, challenged, and a little more prepared to face the "real world".  I can't wait to hear about all that Stephen has absorbed during his time there.  

This is a picture of the senior girls from last year.

Sweet memories.