Pickled Carrot & Daikon {Đồ Chua}

So, we missed a landmark. Just sayin'... This is the 501st post on TKP! 501. Not 500. Oopsies. Who knew I berated you with so many recipes and ramblings? HA! Thank you guys for sticking around (or joining me!). I really appreciate you all!

Also, thanks for being patient while I took a break from blogging! And work in general! And life! I've been hibernating. DURING that hibernation, there has been a lot of planning, reflecting, re-evaluating, etc. I guess that means I kind of have been working... just not in the normal way I usually do. I've totally changed up the way I'm going to work, and am a bit embarrassed I didn't think of this earlier: instead of cooking one dish everyday to blog, I'll only cook two days per week and cook 2-3 dishes each day. WAY easier (for me!) to split things up like that. Two kitchen days means fewer grocery trips, less exhaustion (I get tired in the kitchen, and doing it everyday makes me lazy!), and more time to get down to work on the more businessy-side of things (which I've been seriously ignoring). I don't know about you, but I do much better if I'm not going from one thing to another all the time — if I can focus on a task and know I can see it totally through RIGHT THEN, I'm way more into it.

In order to get really on top of things, I spend a day this week coming up with my editorial calendar for the next SIX weeks. Like "Cook X, Y Z" on one day, and "post Z" on a certain day, etc. In planning out my week schedule for blogging I find myself obsessing over the silliest things: should I post Mon/Wed/Fri, or Tues/Thurs/Sat? Should I post the vegetarian main on Wednesday and the dessert on Friday, or switch them? Then I imagine people at the office looking at my blog on a Friday, and probably wanting something FUN (like a dessert!) for the weekend. I seriously weigh these things in my head as I make my calendar and wonder: am I wasting my time?

I write this now because I basically came to the conclusion that yes, that level of scrutiny is a waste of my time. Most of the views on any particular post don’t even come from the day it was posted… so, why bother?

That said, I’ve come up with an editorial calendar I’m feeling really good about. I won’t bore you with the nitty-gritty formula here, but it’s pretty balanced and has a good about of variety for you guys. No more weeks of all chicken or all soup or all chocolate (though that does sound pretty great, right?). Also: I’ll try to keep the breakfast foods to a minimum. That means like 1 of every 4 posts, instead of 50%. Boohoo! (Don’t hold me to that. I’ve seriously considered becoming a breakfast blog.)

With all of that business-talk out of the way, I bring you something 100% out of whack with my new system. I'm not supposed to post on Sundays anymore (#DroolWorthy will be on Tuesdays!). BUT: I wasn't planning on posting this. I have a *wonderful* Vietnamese dish (my FAVORITE dish of all Vietnamese food) coming your way tomorrow, and it has a few different pieces to it. I thought about actually making it into THREE posts, but decided against that for now. So. Here we are on Sunday with pickled yummies!

Picked carrot and daikon are everywhere in Vietnam. They're in sooooo many dishes, they're a staple for everyone. And for good reason! They're addicting! I know you're probably like "um so what? this looks boring" but let me promise you that tomorrow you will be like "WHYYYYY DIDN'T I MAKE THOSE PICKLED VEGGIES YESTERDAY?!?!" because they take 24 hours. And when you see the deliciousness that is tomorrows post: you'll want to have these on hands. So, do yourself a favor, go out and get yourself some carrots and daikon, and can up some crunchy veggies! You'll be glad you did. Even if you just snack on them... which I am most definitely doing.

Pickled Carrot & Daikon {Đồ Chua}

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 3-4 8oz. jars 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 large carrot (8 oz.)
• 8 oz. daikon radish
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp white sugar
• ½ cup hot water
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup distilled vinegar

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Instructions

1. Cut both the carrot and daikon into matchsticks slightly shorter than the jar you plan to use. I cut mine to about 3" long.
2. Toss the matchsticks with the salt and let sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes (quite a bit of liquid should be released) rinse well (multiple times) with cool water.
3. Drain the water and pat the matchsticks completely dry.
4. Dissolve the sugar into the hot water, stirring until totally dissolved. Add the remaining (cool) water and distilled vinegar. Stir.
5. Put the matchsticks into your clean jars, then pour the vinegar solution into the jars until just covering the matchsticks. Seal, and refrigerate.
6. Let these sit for 24 hours, or more if you want a more pickled taste.

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