things are just getting good

I love when winter starts turning into spring and summer. All of your friends who have been in winter hibernation mode (which is pretty extreme in Chicago) start coming out of the woodwork. You run into them on lunch breaks, meet them in front of the apartment coming in from a run and a bike ride, gather after Friday openings to hang out on the roof on the first really warm nights and have impromptu leftovers bbq’s on their decks. All the schemes you’ve been scheming throughout the winter start coming to life, including these pickles.

I got a call one afternoon from our friend Greg saying he was outside and he had a tester batch of pickles for us. He and Luke decided that they should start pickling their own food, and this was the first try. They’re pretty good, actually my favorite pickles I’ve tried, except that I’m not one for hot things and there’s a pretty liberal amount of chili flakes in this jar making for some excitement the moment they turn from the corner of your mouth into your throat.

 

I’m also getting really excited to shed my winter wardrobe. I went up to Vogue on Saturday with some friends to pick up some fabrics to start sewing some new summer garments. I’m getting more and more into sewing clothes for myself (instead of just for other people) now that I’m done with school and hound is rolling along. I am hoping to turn the blue and white striped knit into either a sweater or cardigan with one pocket. In my head this will be perfect for boating around the lakes this summer at my parent’s cottage, omg I cannot wait to get to that place. The white and black striped woven will be made into this pajama set with perhaps a few modifications. The red lining and interfacing are slightly less exciting but they will become integral parts of this and this but in eggplant.

 

Tonight I made crepes so that Luke and I could taste test all the tiny jams that he brought back from France. They were so awesome….except for the marmalade! Oh man it seriously tasted like I ate a mouth full of Lysol or some equally horrible cleaning product. I ate it a few hours ago and I can literally still taste it in my mouth as I type this. That shit was BAD and not in an oh I don’t like marmalade way, because I do, but in a something went wrong in the canning process way. The rest were delightful though. I thought I was being smart only making a single batch of crepes tonight, but man do I wish I had made a double so I had some for breakfast and lunch tomorrow! 

Oh and the best thing of all about summer approaching? It’s finally time for the most summery summer album ever, Belle & Sebastian’s The Boy with the Arab Strap. I seriously cannot listen to this in the winter; nothing says summer to me like listening to this with the windows open. Maybe this is because it came out during high school summers and I’m nostalgic or maybe just because it’s plain awesome, I’m not sure. Either way it’s not spring or summer without this album in the air.