A Day of Heat and a Night of Light

After an industrious day on Saturday of running errands and then pickling the last of my hot peppers with some sweet pepper, I also made a jar of horseradish sauce. I've been wanting to make this for years but knew it would be an arduous task so kept putting it off. But I finally pulled on the latex gloves and went out to dig up a root. I have plenty of horseradish plants growing around the house.

It took a while but this was my root after washing it. I hacked off the small tubers but chopped up the thicker ones along with the rest of the root after peeling off the skin. I followed these instructions because I liked the photos, it just helped to make it all seem so easy. But it wasn't! I also didn't have any white vinegar at the end so I used apple cider vinegar instead and it was fine.
Once I had my pureed horseradish, along with sore eyes, because I couldn't stop looking inside the blender to see how it was doing, I simply mixed the puree with a 8oz dollop of Daisy sour cream, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, half a tsp of sea salt and a few twists of the black pepper grinder. I filled one jar with the mixture and a spoonful or so in another so I could taste the next day. Both jars were popped into the fridge.

 My finished products. The pepper plant, since I relieved it of its final fruits, promptly starting popping out new purple fruits, so I guess I'll be picking more in a couple of weeks. The horseradish sauce was delicious, just the right amount of hotness, although a couple of times my eyes did water up, but that was purely down to my greed in having too much of it in one mouthful. And I've already opened the big jar so I guess I'll be making more in a few weeks...
Once I'd cleaned up the alarming mess in my kitchen, I really didn't want to come home to that, I grabbed the camera and drove to Berryville for the Clarke County Fair. I was only interested in photographing the carnival. I'd been very disappointed with my shots last year because of my wobbly tripod so I was itching to do better this time. I only planned on staying for about an hour and a half, and soon had my camera set up once I was inside the gates.

A 'slo-mo' video of one of the rides.
It was some time later when I realized how tired I was. I had been there for over 3 hours! I really wanted to stay longer as I had more ideas but my bed was calling and with a 45 minute drive ahead of me, I decided to pack up for the night. Shenandoah County Fair is on in a couple of weeks so I'll try to get to that one too.