An almost picnic by the lake

There's a very nice set of lounge chairs and a picnic table outside our cabin. The view is fantastic, and it makes a great lunch spot if you don't mind a few mosquitoes joining the party. But yesterday we opted to have our lunch at the table inside with the same view, no mosquitoes, and heat, since it was still on the chill side.

But otherwise, it has all the requisites for a good picnic: some degree of privacy, a good view and tasty food: I slathered snowflake buns from the store with some of the ranch-mayo-sun-dried tomato spread we brought along, sliced up some pork tenderloin Dave grilled the night we arrived, and mounded on refrigerator pickles, roasted red peppers, thinly sliced cucumbers and some lettuce. On the side we had fresh fruit, cabbage-carrot slaw, deviled eggs and some palate-cleansing, face-puckering pickles I put up last summer.

These pickles are a ridiculously easy way to get those deli-style pickles to your liking. If you haven't ventured into canning yet, this is a good place to start, because it will be very affirming without being too daunting, giving you the courage to venture further. Feel free to add a hot dried pepper if you like. Just don't ever mess with the vinegar, water and salt ratio in any canning recipe.

Fast Favorite Garlic Dill Pickles
Adapted from this Epicurious recipe

Ingredients
3 pounds small pickling cucumbers, ends sliced off so they stand up in the jars
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons pickling salt
4 heads fresh dill
2 teaspoons dill seeds
4 peeled garlic cloves

Method
Sanitize four pint pickling jars. (If you're just making refrigerator pickles, take the jars piping hot out of the dishwasher.) Bring vinegar, water and salt to a boil. Put a head of fresh dill, 1/2 teaspoon dill seeds and a garlic clove in each jar. Pack pickles tightly into the jar. Pour hot liquid mixture over the top, leaving a half-inch head space. Wipe the rims clean. Top with a pickling jar lid combo. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes after you've added the jars and the water has resumed a boil. (Or let cool on the counter and refrigerate if you're not preserving them for long-term storage.)

And the real reason we ate inside: We wanted to retain some heat in our still-appropriately named winter soup, a maple syrup-sweetened mix of roasted root veggies like butternut squash, sweet potatoes and rutabagas, which I substitute for the turnips in this recipe from Epicurious.