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Every now and then we all need a break: from work, from friends, from life. When those moments occur I like to take a step back, take stock and figure out what’s really important to me and every time, without fail, my health and happiness come first.

I kept saying that 2012 was going to be my year and despite a bit of a rocky start, the past two weeks have me thinking that maybe my bold statement will hold true, maybe this is the year that the pieces will start to come together. Health and happiness are both ticking along nicely and with those things under my belt I feel like I can tackle the world – I’m even beginning to ease myself back into work very slowly and have plans for a mini get-away later this month to Morocco (very exciting, I’ve never ventured into that part of the world before).

So if you find yourself backed into a corner maybe you should do what I do and figure out what’s really important to you… then you should make my spicy pickled cucumbers and treat yourself because they’re freaking delicious.

JACKIE’S SPICY PICKLED CUCUMBERS

Ingredients
2 English cucumbers, sliced thinly
115 ml rice wine vinegar
60 ml mirin
2-3 tbsps sugar (or to taste)
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1-2 dried Thai bird’s eye chillies, de-seeded and crushed/chopped finely
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Method
1. In a large bowl combine all ingredients, making sure the cucumbers are well coated, and let marinade at room temperature for 1 – 1 1/2 hrs. The cucumbers will release a lot of water over this time so don’t worry if the marinade doesn’t completely cover them.
2. Taste, re-season to taste then transfer all of the contents to a large kilner jar, or other airtight container, and refrigerate. Enjoy as a snack or accompaniment to a meal (I recommend it with Hainanese Chicken Rice (blog post to come)). Should keep for a couple of weeks refrigerated.

Until next time, peace and love,

Jax x