Today I went to Grinders to partake in the He’Brew Happy Hour and to meet the founder of the Shmaltz Brewery Jeremy Cowan. I have no idea why I did that: I am not a giant beer fan and when Jeremy introduced himself and tried to blind me with scientific beer-speak I acted like he was speaking Chinese and ordered a beer because it was on special. I ended up with a Coney Island Sword Swallower and I am pretty sure it was a beer.

While the beer was good and Jeremy Cowan was very nice and stopped by to talk to me when he was leaving, my trip to Grinders was even more delightful because I met the former proprietor of “George’s Cheese and Sausage Shop” and Hy-Vee Hall-of-Famer George Detsios.

I remembered reading about him here and there and even having a commenter on this blog suggest trying out George’s goulash at Grinders on Mondays. I talked to George for more than 30 minutes about his life, travel, his job at Hy-Vee, his old shop and his weekly Hungarian cooking at Grinders. By the time we were done taking I knew what I will be doing next Monday.

On Monday, March 23 between 5 and 6pm you are welcome to join me at the Grinders for goulash cooked by George Detsios.

After a beer or two be prepared for some Hungarian singing and possibly dancing.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fyug3T-CUA

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This article about the Hyatt Regency disaster published in the Weekly World News on August 11, 1981 has a curious inset.

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The shortest route from Kansas City to Memphis is via Springfield, MO and rural Arkansas where highway is controlled by the roaming gangs of deer who stand around the road contemplating if they will let you live. I wouldn’t recommend driving there in the dark.

I didn’t want to go to Memphis. Even though I learned English trying to sing along with Elvis (and that’s why people often ask me if I am from Tupelo),  I didn’t feel the need to visit his house and other Memphis attractions didn’t really seem worthy of a fairly boring 8-hour drive. Usually we try to see things along the way, but there wasn’t much to see and the only memorable item was a town called Cabool, mostly because of how out-of-place the name seemed somewhere in rural Missouri.

Memphis turned out to be a fun place for a weekend trip, with enough things to keep you busy for a few days.

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Apparently elsewhere people will pay forty bucks for a pickling class while I’ve been just giving this stuff away. I am pretty sure this kind of thinking led to the birth of the prostitution, but unlike these enterprising women (and men) I keep doing it for free for the love of the craft. And what’s not to love: pickling transforms ordinary fruits and vegetables that will probably rot in the dark corner of your refrigerator into a delicious food that goes well with everything (especially with hard liquor), keeps well and pretty effortless to make.

If you ever tried revolting, cloyingly sweet, mouth-puckering watermelon pickles you might have seen in the grocery store, you are probably not in a hurry to repeat this horrifying experience, which, if your Mom was right, would have left a permanent grimace of disgust on your face. On the other hand, Russian pickled watermelons are a delicious refreshing treat. Originally watermelons were pickled whole in wooden barrels, but I suggest you start slow before digging up a root cellar in your backyard, buying 100-gallon barrels and stocking up on watermelons.

How many times have you purchased a watermelon that was not so great – pale and not very sweet? You are too tight to throw it away, so you do the next best thing – make your kids eat it, or invite omnivorous guests. Pickling will greatly improve your reputation of an evil parent or a stingy host. For this recipe you will need a jar, a watermelon (thinner rind preferred but not required), water and salt.

By the way, don’t you hate when you buy a seedless watermelon and it’s full of seeds? I guess we differ on our definition of the word “occasional”.

Slice the watermelon in chunks sized to fit in your jar; actually any container will do, pickled watermelon loves creativity. Place in the jar.

Now dissolve 2 tablespoons of (kosher) salt per 1 liter (or quart) of water…

…and pour in the jar until the watermelon pieces are covered. If necessary, make more solution keeping the proportion of salt to water. If you don’t have kosher salt, any salt would work, but iodized salt may affect the color of the end product.

Cover loosely and leave on the counter for 2-4 days; things will start happening, maybe some bubbles, or even a white-looking film will appear on top of the brine. Don’t worry, as they say in the health-food stores: “It’s all natural”; just skim it off the top. After a few days place in the fridge.
Next time you have guests, you don’t have to feed them an unripened watermelon, instead offer them a slice of pickled watermelon with their meal. They will beg to come back again.

If you want to progress to the real thing that looks like this:

Just to think that I just gave this away for free, next time I will ask for a dinner and a movie first.

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Oh Trader Joe’s, Your Croissants Are Calling,
From end to end with chocolate at heart.
I should have bought a case of those pastries
But I did not, I wasn’t very smart.

The next morning:


Twenty five minutes later:



Oh, Trader Joe’s!

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