proof that I am a blonde at heart

November 27, 2007

As far as I know, one cannot buy sweet pickle relish here in France. (Or any kind of relish...) And so far, I've been to live quite happily without it. But today I realized I wanted some tuna salad...and I want it with relish in it. I searched and searched and searched at the local grocery store to no avail. I bought a jar of sweet pickles and figured I could chop them up.

So tonight, I made a yummy yummy meal of Shepherd's Pie and then a chocolate truffle pie for two friends of mine and Sue-Wee. (This is a weekly dinner on our part, and we all take turns rotating who cooks. It might just be on the top 10 list of things I love about life here.) The girls went on and on about what a great job I did cooking. I was pretty proud of myself. I've come a long way from the girl who didn't know how to cook bacon without a microwave...

As they are all talking, I'm searching on the internet for a recipe for how to make sweet pickle relish from scratch. As I start reading through the recipes, I say, "So I guess relish doesn't have pickles in it at all! ...It just has cucumbers... (and as I continue reading)...that have been pickled."

All three girls look at me, sort of astounded that I didn't know this, and say in unison, "That's what pickles are."

"Oh." And then I turned BEET RED that I did not know where pickles come from, and we all had a laugh that turned into hysteria. Seriously, I was crying I was laughing so hard. I don't think I've laughed that hard since I've lived here.

So let this be proof that I am not as smart as everyone makes me out to be. I didn't even know that pickles were originally cucumbers. Or that sweet pickle relish doesn't have pickles in it.