Cranberry and Pickled Beet Relish (Page 904)

RECIPE #858

• Date: Sunday, November 2, 2008 -- 7pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: C-
  

I have been saving this recipe for sometime when my special gentleman was around since I accurately predicted that I wouldn't like it. However, I inaccurately predicted that he would. Instead, he rejected this relish too. The upside was that the recipe was extremely quick and easy. I took a bag of cranberries and cooked them in a mixture of water, sugar, and red wine vinegar. After the berries burst and the mixture was thick, I stirred in some sliced and quartered pickled beets. That's it. It was easy, and visually appealing with its deep red color but it tasted bad, bad, bad. There were too many intense flavors in one place, and they didn't mesh at all. The pickled flavor of the beets, the tart flavor of the cranberries, and the pungent acidity of 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar did not create a pleasant flavor when combined. I am generally not a fan of pickled beets, but my special gentleman is -- yet he agreed that this recipe just didn't work. It was the kind of intense, bad flavor that caused my entire face to pucker when I took my first bite. Even the second and third bites, when I knew what to expect, I found myself puckering. This one was not a winner.

Here is the recipe.

The last time I said anything political on this blog it prompted a whole series of very nasty comments, so I am hesitant to even mention last night's election. But I will say that yesterday was a very exciting day. My special gentleman and I volunteered to help get out the vote in the afternoon, which was fun. In the evening we went to Mike and Teresa's house, where we sat attentively in front of their TV for hours, finally heading home when McCain conceded. Mike made margaritas, Teresa made quesadillas, and I made brownies -- perfect election watching food. The polls closed here in Indiana at 6pm, which was the earliest of any poll closing. So we were carefully watching the Indiana results roll in both on the TV and online. Despite the early closing though, Indiana was one of the last states to be called. It was an extremely, extremely close race in this state I call home. When I went to bed last night, well after Obama's speech, it was still unclear which way Indiana would go. In the end, the state went for Obama -- the first time Indiana has gone for a Democrat in more than 40 years!

Despite all the polls suggesting that things would turn out more or less the way they did, I was very nervous about the election. I was hesitant to be too hopeful, for fear that something would go awry. But last night, when the networks called the state of Ohio for Obama, I started to feel very peaceful! Yay!