the best purple food in the universe

i'm not generally a fan of purple, in food, clothing or otherwise. admittedly, i loved purple like most little girls, but around 8th grade a 'friend' told me redheads should never wear purple & it sortof ingrained itself into my consciousness. now my only concession is the occasional periwinkle shade in my wardrobe.
but there is one purple food i can eat. my favourite thing ever is pickled beets! and because they aren't exactly easy transport from my parents' 800+ miles away, i rarely ever get to enjoy them. well, i'm planning to change all that by making my first attempt at canning this weekend. i just picked up 2lbs of beets at the farmer's market this morning & i'm going to head to the consignment store later this afternoon to get half a dozen or so half pint jars. i have my great-great grandmother's recipe (i'm not sure if it's the norwegian or english one on my dad's side; leaning towards norwegian-pickled everything!). we shall see how things go tomorrow. i'll try to photodoc my steps & i'm more than happy to share the recipe with the blogosphere.
*fingers crossed* here's hoping they turn out as tasty as i remember!
(and that my entire kitchen is not stained with beet juice!)