Squash Blossoms and Cukes

As a surly Midwestern teenager determined to avoid canned beets and iceburg lettuce, who knew that squash blossoms would turn out to be one of my favorite seasonal, um, flower vegetables? Just add pasta. Yet I always loved pickles -- so it's bliss to make batches of quick Japanese cucumber pickles on my own (and combine them with rye bread and blue cheese). Add a sip of Rodenbach Grand Cru! There are not many better taste combinations. No sir. Except maybe salt & caramel.