Spicy

As I was headed home from a companion care shift in Exton, PA, I remembered that I needed white wine to test out a new recipe for mushroom barley risotto. It just so happens that there was Goodwill in the same shopping plaza (What luck!) and an Indian Market. Obviously I needed to scope out the thrift shop. All of the goodies were in back stock while all of their Christmas items were jam packed on the shelves. I didn’t find anything too appealing except for some juice glasses. After I grabbed my bottle of cheapo wine I entered the Indian Market. It smelled spicy and foreign. There were bag and cans of who knows what, it was a mystery to me. I wish I knew more about Indian cuisine but my repertoire is pretty limited. What I was hoping to find was some garlic pickle.  Heather went to college with a couple of gals who were from Nepal and treated my family to some tasty cooking when they came to visit Vermont. One of the condiments I was obsessed with was the garlic pickle. It’s not like a vegetable soaked in vinegar brine kind of pickle. It’s thin slivers of garlic in a spicy, pungent, salty paste. A little goes a long way. I had been keeping my eye out in H-Mart and regular grocery store but never found any.  This seemed like the right place to find this exotic condiment. I FOUND IT! Along with a bunch of other pickles: Mixed vegetable, lemon, lime, tomato, mango and gooseberry. I grabbed some garlic pickle and the hot version of lime pickle. I couldn't wait to try these out at home. Both of them are really delightful.  The lime pickle is chopped up preserved limes, chilies, and mysterious spices and is very salty. Pretty much right up my alley but it wasn’t very spicy, false advertisement. The garlic pickle on the other hand was HOT and tasted just the way I remembered it. I have no idea what to put them on but I need to research some dished that I can use these as condiments. I was so excited I offered a smidge to Nate who politely said “Maybe later” which basically means no way in hell. I guess that means more for me!