After all the decadence over the weekend, I thought I’d balance things out a bit for my #DoodlewashDinner offering tonight and bring some cucumber salad. This is one of those foods that I absolutely love today, but would have never touched when I was a kid. I really didn’t like cucumber slices that hadn’t yet been made into pickles. A cucumber salad has pretty much the same ingredients you might use to make pickles, without the laborious prepping and wait. So, in a sense, it’s really just a plate of impatient pickles and now it’s become my perfect summer treat!
I do remember that the version of cucumber salad I had growing up had sugar in it, which I found gross. I also hated bread and butter pickles because I didn’t see the need to take something beautifully savory and salty and make it taste like a dessert. My dad’s side of the family is from the south and nearly everything was made sweet. Tea was transformed into “sweet tea” which was often concocted so syrupy it actually made my face hurt. This is probably not too surprising as Americans consume ridiculously more sugar than any other country in the world. I’ve completely gone on a tangent here, suffice it to say, I don’t want sugar on my vegetables.
And there’s really not much to tell about this little dish. It’s just one of those simple little things in life that I now love. Also, it’s one of the foods Philippe now makes regularly during the warmer months and it always reminds me of when he first came to stay from Paris. We were still figuring out how to make it all work and stay together, so nothing in our life was simple back then. Except that little bit of cucumber salad. Simple, to be sure, but filled with the cool hope that everything would soon work out just fine. And, of course, everything did.
You’re all invited to a Doodlewash Dinner Party during the month of May! Just tag your food or drink image #doodlewashdinner and I’ll feature you and your culinary creations in a delicious Doodlewash Gallery at the end of the month!
About the Doodlewash
M. Graham watercolors: Permanent Pale Green, Gamboge, Azo Orange, Pyrrol Red, Dioxazine Purple, Ultramarine Blue, Sap Green and Neutral Tint. Lamy Safari Al Star pen with Platinum Carbon black ink in a 5″ x 8″ 140 lb. (300 gsm) Pentalic Aqua Journal
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in By Charlie
Great composition with the angular bowl against the circular plate. Do you use traditional American cucumbers or hothouse/Canadian/English ones? When I first emigrated to America, I just about gagged trying to eat some American cucumber. Thankfully I have been able to buy the European ones my palate is used to. I will say that tomatoes here are much tastier than most store bought tomatoes in the UK. A tomato salad is one of my favourite things.
Thanks Laura!! 😃💕We only get the English cucumbers. Not big fans of the others. But yep…tomatoes are something America does well! I can’t wait until tomato season!! Yum!
Beautiful. I love fresh cucumbers! I hope you have more than this for dinner though! 😁. Gorgeously done doodle wash!
Thanks Jodi! 😃💕Hehe…this is just the appetizer! Then we’ll have some salad or pasta. Yeah, would be a bit meager as a full dinner, though I guess a good diet dinner! Hehe
Phew! There I go again. LOL!
Looks so yummy but I need more. I’m a salad freak (among other things, like daisies, cacti, well, you get the point).
Hehe…thanks Teri! 😃💕Yeah…it never stops with only this. It’s just a warm up to a bigger salad! Lol
thats so lovely Charlie! I prefer regular dill pickles not the sugared up ones. are these cucumbers the sweet and tasty little Lebanese ones? we get them here and it turns eating greens into delight!!
Thanks Debi! 😃💕We just get the English cucumbers here right now. Our options expand a bit when the Farmer’s Market opens this summer! Then we can get that kind! Yum!
my hubby likes the ‘regular’ ones; but I like the other kind. so we buy both….then we’re both happy! lol
Oh your doodle looks so fresh….I love cucumber salad!
Thanks Margaret!! 😃💕So glad you liked it and that you’re a fan as well. Hehe…love this stuff in the summer months.
I really wish you live close by because I’d sneak cukes off to you. I’m not a fan of them but hubby insists on growing them to make pickles or his dad’s cukes and sour cream. 😜 I have to say though that you doodlewashed that so beautifully, I’m tempted to eat it. ❤️
Are your dishes and silverware really that elegant? We usually eat on Corelle dishes…not fancy in the least. 😆
Thanks Teresa!! 😃💕 I wish we lived close by too!! I love cukes so much! Plus, we could sketch together and be silly so that’s an added bonus! Lol And these aren’t our dishes…I was working from references and playing with color. Lol I can’t urban sketch food…it doesn’t last long enough. 😊🐷
LOL! I hear ya! Food doesn’t last long around me, either. 😉
Aw, well that’s a sweet thing to be wrapped up in a cucumber salad. A wonderful doodlewash, though forgive my not going wild over the dish itself 😉 Perhaps I should try this sugared kind to see if I fare any better (though it doesn’t sound particularly pleasant!)
Thanks Jacob! 😃Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be signing up for this dish. Hehe… You have to really love cucumbers to enjoy this one. Nothing to hide them! Lol
I do love a cucumber salad – mine usually has a bit of seasoned rice vinegar, a touch of soy sauce and sesame oil, topped with sesame seeds. I usually slice my cucumber very thin. So simple and yummy! What a cheery doodlewash, perfect for the summer!
Thanks Kari!! 😃💕Yum! Your version sounds delicious! I agree on the slices…the thinner the better! I’m so ready for fresh summer food. Can’t wait to go to the Farmer’s Market this season! 😃
I love the way you’ve drawn the glass dish, and the shadow under the fork.
Awww thanks so much!! 😃💕 I have no idea why but I love painting glass and shiny things. Hehe…could do a month of that, but not sure what the theme would be! 😊
‘Glasses and bottles’? Like a watercolor Giorgio Morandi! Very chic
Hehe! Cool! 😊
Beautiful arrangement Charlie. I just ate a cumcumber salad the other night, sprinkled with sesame seeds and feta cheese. And, a bit of vinegarette.
Thanks Sharon!! 😃💕yum…yes to feta!! So good! I’m just hungry all the time this month. Not sure this theme was a good idea. 😊hehe
Lol 💕🎨
You are as cool as a cucumber, Charlie!! 💕🎨 Your salad looks delish! So glad you things worked out for you and Philippe! 😊🌈✨
Thanks so much Jill! 😃💕 Hehe…I love this stuff! And yes! Things worked out perfectly all around! 😉😃😃
Yum. That yellow plate. Love the shading.
Thanks so much Carmel!! 😃💕 Glad you like it!
What an enticing display, Charlie, so beautifully doodled! You’ve handled the cucumber very well and I love that vibrant tomato. I, too, couldn’t eat cucumber as a youngster (it had deleterious effects on my stomach), except for, strangely enough, the Polish large dill pickle, which I still love today ‘tho limit my intake. These days I really like those baby dill cornichons…great for snacking with a bit of cheese and salty crackers.
Thanks so much Janina! 😃💕 So glad you liked this one! And yeah… I’m totally on board with the baby dills… they’re really good snacking! hehe
A great salad pleaser, when I have grown myself I often find them to be bitter, I have heard that this is down to weather the cucumber was male or female?? How true I do not know, maybe it was just due to the variety I grew? I can honestly say, never ever would I wish for sugar on my salad, I do remember when I was young, staying at my nanas, we had salad, and I grabbed the salt, sprinkled a little, then grabbed a big bite, yikes and yuk, yuk, yuk…..it was sugar in the bowl, not the salt I had thought. That’s as close as I have, and will be to sugar on savoury. Great doodlewash Charlie.
Thanks Rebecca!! 😃💕 Ewww.. haha! I bet that was a shock to make that swap with your salad. Definitely a fun memory though. And really? The gender of the cucumber? Who knew! That’s fascinating, I’ll have to look that up!
What a perfect treat on a hot and humid day! Your salad looks delicious!
Lovely sketch of one of my favorite vegetables! Have you tried lemon cucumbers? They are the best and are easy to grow. I recommend them!!!
Thanks Jansi! 😃I don’t think I’ve tried lemon cucumbers, hmmmmm… looks like I’ll have to go in search of them then! Yum!
Aww thanks Cathe!😃💕 I love this stuff… it’s really one of my faves of the season!
Loved your cucumber salad friend! 😃
Thanks so much, Snehal! Glad you liked it! 😃💕
Yum, fresh crisp cucumber salad. Whats not to love? Lucky me I have always liked them.
Thanks Susan!😃💕 I love this stuff… granted… I also love banana splits, but it’s a good thing to balance things out with! lol
Yup, balance stuff out, everything is good within reason. So says I!! LOL 🙂
Oh there you go bringing “reason” into it! LOL
I know I know, boooo. LOL
This looks so delicious and cool…plus it is making me hungry. Love your painting, from the glass dish to the table setting…everything is just lovely and enticing.
Thanks so much Haunani! 😃💕 Always fun to paint glass…hehe…this little appetizer is one of my favorite parts of summer!
You do such a great job of capturing silver, shadows, chrome, glass, and reflections – the hallmarks of a really talented artist. Your cukes look good enough to eat – 😀
I like cukes even more simply prepared – those tiny cukes that I wash and munch out of hand. No fork necessary.
As for over preparing food – I like fruit without any dressing or sauce, not even salt or pepper, and most veggies simply roasted, baked, or steamed – or raw. Sometimes I’ll saute, along with shrimp or chicken. Don’t much love to cook and I prefer food that’s close to the way it came from the tree, vine, or the ground.
But stay away from my sweet tea, please.
And dessert – now that’s another story.
Thanks so much Sharon! Glad ya liked my cukes! 😃💕Yeah… snacking cucumbers are super good as well. Hmm… so you’re a sweet tea lover? hehe… and yes… dessert is a beautiful story all on its own.
Having just come from the south, I agree about the sweetness…sweet potato salad? Yuck. The same with cucumbers…a little vinegar is perfect! Beautiful presentation for the salad too! (K)
Thanks so much, Kerfe! 😃💕 Yeah, I never acquired the American love affair of sugar on anything. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows?!! Ewwwwww!!
Agreed!