Simple Pickled Peppers

This is the first year I've tried to pickle peppers and it is totally from happenstance. The peppers we've received have all been donated and have been graciously welcomed. However, we really don't eat hot peppers unless they are in a stew we eat with rice or with pizza. I didn't want them all to go to waste so I went to my trusty Country Wisdom & Know How book and came across a very simple pickled pepper recipe. I've often hear of pickling cucumbers this way, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The peppers to use are of your choice; I used hot banana peppers. The banana peppers come out tasting like the pepperocinis you buy at the store or that are commonly found on pizza. You can mix hot and sweet peppers or hot and hotter, if you dare! :) What is great is that you can easily adjust the recipe depending on how many peppers you have. The simple recipe follows:

Ingredients

Peppers

Brine: ratio* of 1:1: 1/8th for water, white vinegar, canning salt**

Bowl or crock with lid

* for example: 2 cups water, 2 cups vinegar, 1/4 cup canning salt or 4 cups water, 4 cups vinegar, 1/2 cup canning salt.

**Canning salt is more pure than other salts, so the taste is more true to the peppers; less impurities.

Instructions

1. Cut peppers in 1/2" slices so that you have round slices and place in an adequately sized bowl or crock.

2. Make enough brine to cover the peppers so the peppers have room to move when stirred.

3. Cover and let set for at least 2 weeks, undisturbed in a dark, cool room (e.g. garage, basement, cellar).

Now you'll have yummy use for all those hot peppers that no one knows what to do with. Store in a bowl or jar with a lid in the refrigerator; the peppers keep relatively for a long time. The heat from the peppers is neutralized from the vinegar and water, depending on the intensity. These taste so good I can eat them all by themselves!

p.s. don't forget to wash your hands and under your fingernails as best as you can! there have been many times i've rubbed my eye hours later and felt the sting of a hot pepper seed!

Tour of Route 1

Greenup County is one of Kentucky's largest counties. Daniel and I have lived here most of our lives and are still not familiar with the forgotten western, most rural, part. On our mission to better understand where we live, and the history of where came from we looked to the Greenup County tourism website (http://www.tourgreenupcounty.com/Attractions.htm).

Leaving at 1pm we had our lunch packed and our two little ones strapped in. We decided that we'd have a picnic at the Oldtown Covered Bridge, one of the last two remaining covered bridges in Greenup County. The Oldtown Covered Bridge is about 9 miles south (towards Grayson) from Greenbo Lake State Resort Park; turn left on Frazer Branch, the bridge is on the left. After we ate, we crossed the bridge and found a small little path that led to the Little Sandy River. This was Aiden and Imagin's favorite part; getting their feet wet in the water. Surprisingly this part of the river was quite clear, with a good flow; you could see muscle shells and fish swimming.

After spending a good 45 minutes at the Bridge, we headed towards the Hopewell Bridge (an Eastern Kentucky [EK] Railroad bridge). Yes, Hopewell is a small town in Greenup County! Continuing south on Rt. 1 drive until you meet 3306; before crossing a small bridge, make a sharp left. The Hopewell Bridge crosses the Little Sandy River and has only one lane.


Going back north on Rt.1, turn left on Laurel Road (we couldn't find the marker and that's how we ended on at Hopewell first!). Here is Lucy Virgin Downs grave site (1,000 feet west of the marker). Lucy was the first white child born of American parents, west of the Allegheny Mountains. Mrs. Lucy Virgin Downs was a resident of Oldtown, Greenup County, from 1807 until her death in 1847.

To a surprise Laurel Road is also the site of Laurel Furnace (one of the many iron furnaces in our area). We were surprise, because this was NOT on the Greenup Conty Tourism website. The Laurel Furnace has a market near that of Lucy Virgin Downs. To get to the furnace, the first split bear left, second split bear left. The furnace is on the right. The furnace was carved from one block of stone cliff! If you continue down the road, you will see an amazing sight of cliffs! Whoever lives there truly has a unique and beautiful landscape!

By this time the kids were worn out and were ready to get out of the car, so we headed to the babysitters (Daniel's parents) so that we could get ready for a round of Sunday kickball.

On our way home

We'll be leaving tomorrow. The last few weeks have flown by. We've had a great time.
We're currently in the city of Alejuela, just outside of San Jose, beside the airport. We got here yesterday and are staying at La Familia ByB.

On Saturday night, we stayed in the port city of Puntareneas. It is a popular destination for vacationing Costa Ricans. Our trip there took much longer than it was supposed to, as I made a wrong turn while Bethany and Aiden were asleep. We ended up having to wait several hours for a car ferry to Puntareneas instead of driving directly there. My bad.

This morning we went on a coffee tour at the Doka family coffee plantation. The tour was interesting, but they had no positive environmental or social aspects.

The Leatherback Sea Turtle

Last night we witnessed a becoming rare and natural event. Around 10 pm we heading down to the Las Baulas National Marine Park office to sign up for a turtle tour. We were advised to wear dark clothing, sandals, and not to bring cameras or flashlights. We waiting for 3 hours until a local tour guide found a turtle for us to observe. They are not many for they are quickly becoming endangered for the development in the area. We are so glad we waited. Our guide led us in the dark, close to the waters edge until we came upon the site. He turned on his flashlight...covered with red cellophane (so not to disturb the mother turtle). We huddled around to see this huge sea turtle, the oldest and largest reptile on the planet. It was easily the same length as Bethany, weighing even more. She was digging a hole with her hind flippers. One leg at a time removing sand to make a hole to lay her eggs out of danger. We watched the entire process taking another 2 hours. After she got the depth she wanted we watched her lay the eggs, which numbered a couple dozen. She carefully replaced the sand covering the eggs, this time using both front and back flippers. With each pile of sand, she then patted it down to secure the eggs. Unfortunetly we didn't get to see the end. We left right before she was finished so that she could return to the ocean in peace.
What an amazing event! We could only think of Chauncie and how much she would love it here. They do have a volunteer service during September - March, the time when the females come to Playa Grande to nest!
We had a great end to our four days in Playa Grande. We are now off to Santa Cruz, to go on a coffee tour, see a tortilla factory, and see a wonderful pottery district.

Playa Grande

We are now in Playa Grande. It is on the Central Pacific coast. It is the top 4 spots to see the leatherback turtle nesting sites! We hope to take the tour this evening. We're staying at the Hotel La Tortuga, a beautiful resort that is ecoconscious and respectful of their relationship with the turtles. We will be here for the next four nights and then make our way back to San Jose.

The last few days have been hectic and we've covered quite a bit of Costa Rica. After San Ramon, we drove to Volcan Arenas, an active volcanoe - the smoke can be seen bellowing out of the top. Near Volcan Arenas, we went to the La Catarata (waterfall) of La Fortuna, a 70 m waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful. The night we stayed in the small mountain town of Tilaran at the Hotel Gaudalupe.

The next day we drove to Canas and then north to Upala, passing between Volcan Miravalles and Volcan Tenorio. Volcan Miravelles is active. We then drove west near the Nicaraguan border to La Cruz. The road was gravel and bumpy most of the way, so the trip took a while. Along the way we passed mile after mile of citrus trees, Del Oro. Bethany decided to lay her chair down to rest while driving, but she couldn't get it to come back up. So she has had to lay down while driving for the last two days, until we got to Liberia today, when they fixed it at Thrifty.

Yesterday we went swimming in the Bahia Salinas, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Aiden had a great time. We were going to spend the night at a resort on the Bahia last night, but decided instead to stay in La Cruz. The resort wasn't open yet and just wasn't very convenient for us. But before we decided not to stay there, we had already taken all of our stuff in the room. So when we decided to stay in La Cruz on the spur of the moment, I forgot to grab the dirty clothes. So we'll be coming back to the U.S. minus a few items of clothes.

Anyway today we headed south to Liberia and then west to Playa Grande, where we will rest and enjoy ourselves the next few days.

San Ramon

We are in San Ramon, just northwest of San Jose by an hour. We have rented a car. Technically babies do not need a car seat, but we wanted one for Aiden just to be safe and so he can sleep. The only one they had was for an older toddler, at least 30lbs. We strapped Aiden in and drove to the next location to see if they had any car seats. They did! But only one...and it was an infant seat. haha! Poor Aiden...we chose the infant seat, because it tilts and looked the most comfortable. Aiden actually fell asleep in it, although he is getting used to not being in a seat and wanted to be held for majority of time he was awake!
Today we saw Poas Volcano. On the way we saw the famous plantation of Coffee Brit, as well as tons of other coffee and strawberry plantations.
We are staying in Hotel La Posada, small, but cheap, beautiful, FREE breakfast, and the internet works!