Cool Cukes

Along with tomatoes, squash and other goodies from the garden, we eat a lot of refrigerator pickles this time of year.  I make them just the way my mom taught me (thanks, Mom!).

Ingredients:
6-8 medium slicing cucumbers
1 onion
salt
ice cubes
1/2 cup vinegar (either white or cider)
1/2 cup sugar
pepper (optional)
celery salt (optional)

Directions:
Slice the cucumbers and onions into a large bowl.  If the cucumbers are fresh and have thin skin, leave the skin on (more vitamins!).  Sprinkle the top of the cucumbers with a generous amount of salt (3-4 tbsp).  Put 6-8 ice cubes on top of the salt.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or longer, up to 24 hours).  Drain all the liquid from the bowl.  In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, mix equal parts vinegar and sugar.  Shake the mixture well until the sugar is dissolved (or nearly so -- sometimes it's hard to get it all completely dissolved).  Pour the mixture over the cucumbers and stir.  You can eat right them away, but it's better to let the cucumbers marinate in the vinegar mixture for at least an hour before serving.  You can also add pepper and/or celery salt to taste.  Be careful not to oversalt the pickles if you use celery salt.  These will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, but they never last that long at our house.