Pickled Watermelon Rind

This month I saw all my lovely blogger friends who are Daring Cooks producing cute little jars of apple and peach butter as part of this month's challenge focused on food preservation.  I have to say, this is definitely one month when I wished to be part of Daring Cooks since I love pickling and making preserves!  Even though I am not a member of this adventurous group, I do make my share of challenging and unique recipes, and I thought I would springboard off their challenge and share my latest pickling experience with you and ask for some suggestions.    

I found this recipe for pickled watermelon rind in Think Like a Chef by Tom Colicchio and I was drawn to it like a magnet.  (Don't ask why because I have no idea.  Maybe it had something to do with my hesitation to throw away all that pretty green rind.  Or, maybe I just like any recipe with the word pickle.)  The recipe seemed simple enough, and I thought it would be an interesting condiment to use with a summer fish dish or possibly in a relish. 

A Labor Day Party, and Thomas Keller's Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Can I tell you about the heaven that was my Labor Day?  The So Cal sun was shining in a beautiful, cloudless sky, and I got to entertain six wonderful friends and cook a full meal for them, including mouth-watering buttermilk fried chicken, fresh side dishes, and made-from-scratch dark chocolate ice cream and salted butter caramel ice cream for dessert.  We caught up on our lives, laughed like crazy, and everyone left with full stomachs.  If this isn't heaven, then I don't know what is!      

I should tell you, the inception for this Labor Day party originally came from Thomas Keller's famous buttermilk fried chicken recipe.  As I was paging through Ad Hoc at Home, the images of this golden fried comfort food snuggled down deep in my brain and refused to budge; I figured resistance was futile (can you ever say no to fried chicken?), and decided to use it as an excuse to have a party.

Since the fried chicken was going to be the star of the show, I wanted to use light, in-season vegetables for side dishes.  I started out with watermelon tossed with lime, followed by a quick and easy vinegar coleslaw which I accidentally oversalted but everyone still loved.  I was especially excited to use sweet, green heirloom tomatoes and my own tomatoes (Yes! They survived!) to throw together a quick caprese salad.  And finally, a summer party isn't a party without corn on the cob!