aceitunas (olives)

We eat a lot of olives here. They're finger-food at most bars and are a typical midday snack. 

Ingredients

• raw olives
• fresh thyme - rinsed (still on the stem is fine)
• 1 green bell peppers - deseeded and roughly chopped
• 3-5 cloves garlic - 
• Salt
• Water

Process

• Rinse the olives
• One at a time, break open each olive slightly with a wooden mallet so that there is a open crack but the pit remains inside. This make the olives easier to eat later as the pit slides out easily into your mouth. The olives will splatter oily juice when working with the mallet. So be sure to wear clothes you don't care about while hitting them or better yet, use a cardboard box to protect your clothes (and walls!) from the olive juice. 

• Place the split olives into mason jars or other medium-sized containers until about 2/3 full. 
• Add garlic, salt, bell peppers, and thyme. 
• Fill remaining space in container with water. 
• Let marinate in the refrigerator for two weeks.