Purple deliciousness

This summer we joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture.) In the early spring we paid a local farmer a large sum and in return we've been enjoying a huge box of fresh picked, organic vegetables each week since late May. It's been wonderful. We've discovered new delicacies, like garlic scapes, and had our fill of summer staples like tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and corn on the cob. But my favorite has been the beets. As a kid I didn't like beets at all, in any form. As an adult I started to enjoy them once in awhile. While pregnant with Madeline I started craving them--along with cooked red cabbage, leading me to believe I was running low on purple or some nutrient found in purple foods. This summer my love of beets was born anew. I made them roasted with butter and honey, sauteed with the greens in olive oil with a splash of vinegar. Then I discovered just how easy it is to make pickled beets. I've made several batches and every time I eat half of them before I even get them in jars. My mom and grandmothers always made sweet and rather uninteresting pickled beets, just equal parts vinegar and sugar with a little salt. The recipe I have is much more "Scandinavian" or so my mother says. Much less sugar than vinegar, a cinnamon stick, allspice berries and cloves. Pure heaven. I eat them until my mouth feels raw from the acidity. And sometimes I still can't stop. When I've eaten the last beet I feel a twinge of sadness and loss, but it is quickly replaced by the excitement of what's to come. Because the wonderful deliciousness of the pickled beets isn't done yet. All that beautiful purple juice is begging to be used. So I boil up some eggs, peel them and toss them in the beet-y bath. In a few hours I have spectacularly magenta pickled eggs. I'm not sure which I like better, the beets or the eggs. Fortunately, I don't have to decide.