(Overgrown) Cucumber Cinnamon Rings

If you have lots of big, overgrown cucumbers, read on! This  recipe is a favorite from my childhood. I'm not sure where my mom got it from, but it is an excellent and tasty way to use those overgrown cucumbers from the garden. It does take four days to complete, but if you are doing a big batch, it's well worth it! The end result is a crisp and sweet cinnamon ring that doesn't even taste like a cucumber anymore. You can serve it as a side dish or garnish, and I recommend them chilled.

Here's the recipe:

Let me add a few notes to the recipe too. The first day is probably the longest and messiest, because you have to peel and core the cucumbers. I think the trick is to have someone peel and then another person core. Try to find some utensil that is round to do the coring also- I ended up using a large icing tip, and it worked pretty well.

Use a LARGE container so you don't have to fight with everything fitting. I think I did about a dozen foot-long cucumbers, and I used a large plastic Tupperware container that was about a foot diameter and 8 inches deep. Even with this size, I didn't have a lot of room.

On the second day, you will need at least a stockpot to fit all the cucumbers. Or, use your cooker canner. Rinse them well to get the pickling lime off! Also, I found that it saves time to prepare and boil the syrup while the cucumbers are simmering for those two hours.

On the third day, all you do is reboil the syrup to bring out the flavor and then dump it back over. On the fourth, prepare your jars and get the hot water bath going while you reboil the syrup and pack the jars. Be sure you have a rolling boil going for 5 minutes, then remove the jars. I found that setting the jars on an old towel and covering them with an old town helps the heat stay in and seal the jars. 

Day One                                    Day Two

 Day Three                             Day Four

Feel free to contact me via the comments section and I can help you with the process!

Coco's Bistro Date

Justin and I went to Coco's Bistro last night for a date. It's so nice to dress up and get away. While it was a bit more than our traditional choices, we had it recommended to us. We weren't disappointed.

First, it's super easy to get to, right off of 35 in downtown Dayton. We had made reservations for 6pm, but it wasn't too crowded when we go there at all, though it did get busier as the hour progressed. Starting with the Fried Brie was a great choice! The brie is served with yummy bread and a host of other flavors swirled on the plate.

Next came our salads. I got a lovely spinach-blueberry salad with almonds and a sweet dressing, and Justin had a Caesar salad with honey balsamic dressing. I usually don't get into salads, but mine was really good.  Before the main course, they brought out the bread, and oh, was it delicious. It came with a freshly-mixed sweet butter. I wish I could tell you exactly what the bread was, but it reminded me of something between the texture of cornbread and French bread. It was thick but not too much, yet spongy too. Either way, I wish we had had more!

The main course for me was Shrimp Scampi Ravioli. The sauce wasn't too hot when you at it with the ravioli and shrimp, which I think means that it had a perfect balance. Justin ventured out and got the Cherry BBQ Duck Breast. We both liked it- in some ways it reminded me of the texture of squirrel or rabbit that I have had growing it. I don't think it was "gamey" though like some people say... anyway, it was good, and the sauce was tasty!! Justin's side of jalapeno cornbread stuffing had just a bit of kick, and the potatoes just the right amount of salt.

All in all, we would definitely go back again!! Try it out: http://www.228coco.com/

Fabric Paint Chair Revamp!

I snagged this chair at Valley Thrift store about a week ago for .69. That's right.... sixty-nine cents! Who priced this, I'm not sure, but it was destined to be mine. The only problem was that it was a little faded. I was sure I could find some fabric paint to spruce it up, and I did. Both Jo Ann's and Michael's carried Simply Spray fabric paint. After I cleared out Jo Ann's Blue Jay stock, I went to Michael's. (They actually had several other brands also, some that came in a pump bottle instead of a spray. I'm not sure how they would work but I just might try it sometime.)

On a technical note, I was super irritated because the spray kept jamming. I actually returned a bottle to the store because it sprayed for a whole two seconds and then didn't give me anything else!! Grrr! I ended up using about 6 bottles of the 2.5 oz size. With coupons and all, I think it cost me about $25 to change the color of the chair.

I think the key with this project was to stay in the same color family. For example, I wouldn't have tried to make the chair red- it might have ended up looking purple or something. So I really just brought the original color back to life. After taping off the wood framing that showed, I tried to saturate the chair as best I could, then let it dry. Once it dried I could see if I was uneven in any areas and spray again to cover better. The nice thing about this type of paint was that it doesn't need to heat set or be washed, so I works for a chair that can't go through the laundry!

You can see the before and after pictures below, and also a picture with the cushion turned over to see the difference. 

How to Distress a Dresser

A few years ago, I obtained a mid-century dresser as family hand-me-down. My Uncle Tim didn't have a place for it, and I needed a dresser in my spare room, so I snatched it up. Fast forward a few years, and our new house didn't have a place in our guest room for the dresser, so I decided to use it as a buffet in the dining room. I love it because it givens me lots of linen storage! However, with wood laminate floors and a wood table, I had too many wood finishes and wanted a the buffet to contrast more in the room (see pic on left). So I decided to paint and distress it. Here's how it worked.

First, I roughed up the original finish with sandpaper and removed the hardware. I had to use putty to fill in the holes from the hardware because we changed the knobs. Then, I painted a base coat of yellow paint (leftover from the kitchen) on the dresser. I made sure to have it plenty thick on the edges, because this is where I would be seeing it the most.

Next, I painted the top coat of a brownish-olive color that picks up some of the accents from the rest of the house and the green in the wall color. I did two coats of this. I used enamel from Sherwin-Williams, but next time I think I might try a different type because it wasn't super easy to scrub off for the distressing part.

Finally, I took sandpaper to the dried top coat along the edges and natural wear lines until I had as much yellow showing through as I wanted. I also used a "rough" paintbrush to give it wear on the top and sides since the enamel was pretty hard to distress on the flat surfaces. Sherwin-Williams has these 2-inch brushes for a buck that worked really well for this. 

To finish the piece, we put on new hardware from Lowe's. I didn't want it to look too new, so I rubbed paint over the pieces and then used a dry cloth to give it an aged affect. The knobs and handles were around $1 a piece, and the paint was about $15, so I did the whole dresser for about $25! Nice, right?