Strange potatoes

Mickey Mouse?

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Someone requested a couple of the recipes I made recently (Thai Cucumber salad and Kosher dill barrel type pickles), so I'm posting them at the end of this post.

Since I'm a bit under the weather I've been finding lots of little, sit down jobs - putting together some molds I recently received, cleaning up my photo files and doing some Internet ordering. The studio will have to wait another day and hopefully all these vitamins and liquids will get rid of this fluish bug.

Here are those recipes:

Thai cucumber salad Serves 4

2 cucumbers peeled and sliced thinly
4 T sugar
2 T rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
4 T water
Pinch of Red Pepper flakes or to taste
1/4 cup red onion (halve or quarter the onion and slice very thinly)
1/4 cup fresh mint roughly chopped (or to taste. I used only a tiny bit)
Optional: 1/4 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped

Combine all ingredients except the cucumbers and mix well to dissolve the sugar. Add the sliced cucumbers and lightly toss. (Best made a bit ahead a half hour or more, and refrigerated to develop more flavor .

PS: I omitted the onion and it was fine without it.

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Kosher dill pickles

4 quarts (scant 4l) water
6 tablespoons coarse Kosher white salt
18-20 pickling cucumbers, scrubbed wll
8 cloves garlic, un-peeled and lightly-crushed
2 tablespoons pickling spice (see links below)
6 bay leaves
1 large bunch of dill, preferably going to seed, washed

1. In a large pot, bring 1 qt (1l) water to a boil with the salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the remaining water.

2. Prepare three 1 quart wide jars by running them through the dishwasher or hand washing and then filling them with boiling water, then dumping it out.

3. Pack the cucumbers vertically into the jars, making sure they’re tightly-packed. As you fill the jars, divide the garlic, spices, bay leaves, and dill amongst them.