You may have noticed that I haven’t said a word about Halloween. I am not anti-All Hallow’s Eve, just bitter because for two years in a row, my husband and I have nowhere to go and live in an apartment that I’m sure hasn’t seen a trick-or-treater in quite some time. Back in Indiana, there was a party every year in our adult life that was very entertaining. I miss those-that is why I am bitter. I suppose we could venture to the arboretum and pretend it’s scary. That’s not really appealing to me today though.
Taking pleasure in being scared is not something I do. I was the person others could scare rather easily. I had (have) a few friends that would call me or tell me before hitting the road alone that there’s a man in my backseat, someone is under my car or one of my least favorites, calling me from an unknown number with a creepy voice on the other end saying horrible things that I can’t bring myself to repeat because I am alone right now.
My grandpa was pretty good at scaring the grandkids. One year, he dressed as a scarecrow and sat on one of their huge rocks at the end of their long driveway. He was very still and no one thought it was him and that scared the bejesus out of me so much that every year I was hyper-aware of my surroundings as soon as we were near their drive. I can still picture that as a youngster. Another year, he hung a witch on the tree by their door that was on a line and came right towards anyone about to enter the house. He also has a few creepy-looking masks but one year that was too much for my young cousin and grandpa decided that was it.
Handling being scared has become easier for me, if only because these things have been absent from my life for a few years. I will never go to another haunted forest, jail, maze, school, house or anywhere else after being chased from the jail with a chainsaw onto the bus, not realizing that the chainsaw-wielding creep followed me. Not funny. I was also chased by my friend’s dad at a bonfire with a chainsaw. One of my husband’s favorite activities on bus trips in school was to stand about an inch from a slumbering student’s face and wait for them to wake up. I saw this one night and was grateful that I a) wasn’t sleeping and b) wasn’t on the outer side of the seat. (Greg, my husband, went to highschool with me but it wasn’t until college that I really knew him which is how I saw this.)
While writing this post, my calendar decided it didn’t want to be on the wall and I think I wet myself a little. Perhaps, I was hasty to say I could better handle the things that go bump in the day or night. You might experience some fright from my pickled habaneros and jalapenos. I did because Greg, not listening to me, added all the seeds and made this pretty damn hot…I only asked that he keep a third of the seeds when he was prepping them for me.
Pickled Habaneros and Jalapenos
Makes a pint
Ingredients:
1 sterilized pint jar
1 -1 ½ lbs. mix of habaneros and jalapenos, chopped into rings and keeping only a quarter to half of the seeds
2 cups white distilled vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp salt
Place vinegar, peppercorns, garlic, mustard seed, sugar and salt into a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Then add the peppers and turn off the heat to keep them crisp. Place into the jar (make sure the peppers are covered) and allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least 3 days and up to 3 weeks. Be careful if, like my husband, you chose more habaneros than jalapenos. This is great as a relish, to add to soup and sandwiches, casseroles and so much more. You can freeze the leftover peppers and save them for other meals.