March 03, 2008
Spring Thaw
Here was our weekend: (1) gardening, (2) game night, (3) AC/DShe, (4) attempted meet-up with JenB and HJ, (5) attempted kitten rescue in the middle of traffic, and (6) a tall glass of lemonade tart enough to pucker all your orifices. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times Simon and I said to each other "I'm SO glad Spring is here!"
(1) The gardens are out of control. Out. Of. Control. Paths are obstructed. Views are obscured. Clover is everywhere. Mystery sprouts are everywhere. Snails are everywhere and only destroying the plants we want to keep. On Saturday we spent a couple of hours in the sun plucking and snipping and snail-baiting the front yard into a clean(ish) slate and, miraculously, instead of overworking ourselves into hunchbacked oblivion, we merely whetted our appetites for the daunting backyard gardening to come. Maybe we're insane, or maybe we're meant to be gardeners after all. Or maybe we're looking forward to tackling the backyard because that's where the vegetable beds are...
(2) Game night! Holly already did a little ditty on our evening of sophisticated, mature, straight-laced, and straight-faced Balderdashing, and she also included pictures of her apartment, which is designed to the nines (I was drooling over her lamps and I'm not even a lamp person), so there's really not much else to say about that. Oh, except her cats are nice and very silky. And Simon won the game by guessing that the real answer to the final clue was "Once known as 'the world's strongest boy,' he once played the fiddle while a large bulldog hung from his arm." And we almost stepped on an honest-to-goodness crack whore on our way down the front steps, and no, I did not take a picture.
(3) Simon has this thing where he enters contests for free concert tickets and then he wins. The concerts are always 80s cover bands. Weird, huh? On Saturday night we left gaming early to go to an AC/DShe concert, wherein the music was good and performers were oustanding but after about an hour waiting for the band to actually come on stage, I had already morphed into a crusty old lady and there was no turning back. Is it just me or is there more touching at metal concerts than at indie concerts? (Is AC/DC even metal? Don't ask me; I only recognized one of the songs.) The constant shift and smoosh I endured while attempting to stand in one place and NOT TOUCH ANYONE ELSE very soon gave way to a constant stink-eye, and about five songs in I was well beyond cool and ready to give everyone in the audience detention for life. My favorite part of the concert was when the woman next to me (the same one who offered Simon her earplugs) tapped me nicely on the shoulder and informed me that she would be "rocking out pretty hard to the next song" so I might want to take two steps to the side. See, it is possible to rock politely!
(4) JenB was in town visiting Helen Jane, and although they were in my vicinity, the internet botched our meet-up and I didn't get to see them. Damn you, Internet! Why do you bring us together only to tear us apart?!
(5) Sunday afternoon we were en route to the lake for a nice walk in the sunshine when Simon spotted a car stopped in the middle of the road surrounded by several perplexed-looking individuals. Ever unable to bypass an opportunity to be a hero, he went over to find out what the trouble was, and it turns out that the woman had a kitten in her wheelwell. (Ding dong bell / pussy in the well!) The tiny little thing had been frolicking in traffic, and when the woman stopped her car to avoid hitting it, kitty jumped up into the underbelly of her carr--and stayed there for an hour while we poked it with sticks and cursed out Animal Control for neglecting the call of duty. Between the danger of cat scratch fever and getting flattened by oncoming traffic, we're lucky we escaped with our lives. We hope kitty (name: Carson? Carly?) was lucky too; we left when a policewoman pulled up, and by the time we got back to our car, the scene was clear.
(6) Remember our ridiculous lemon tree? Late last summer we were downright giddy at having so much cheerful fruit right there at our fingertips, and those of you who have had lemon trees of your own told us to pick all we could, juice them, and then freeze the juice into cubes so we'd have lemonade all year long. Well, we didn't. Lazy lazy lazy. Alas, the poor lemons would rot where they ripened, never seeing the inside of a glass--or the inside of my belly--boo hoo. And so the rains came, and the wind blew, and we holed up inside to watch Netflix(es?) for three months and only on special occasions (e.g., guest martinis, salmon spritzers) did we tromp through the muddy yard to the tree. But: Gee, there seem to be an awful lot of ripe lemons here. And: Gosh, none of them seem to have fallen to the ground or turned moldy. And then: Oh well, time to run back into the marginally warmer house. See you in the spring, lemon tree! Which brings us to now, when we are the proud owners of about two hundred ripe lemons, I kid you not. We picked about sixty yesterday for some 'ade and didn't even make a dent.
p
And so it is Monday. Bleh. But also Bleh!--with an exclamation point!--because it is finally a Monday where instead of being unmotivated because it's so gloomy outside, I'm unmotivated because it's so beautiful and sunny and warm! In fact, maybe "unmotivated" is the wrong word, because I'm actually quite motivated to do all sorts of things, starting with lay on the patio with my socks off while someone ladels lemonade into my mouth. Volunteers?
Posted by Leah at March 3, 2008 06:31 PMhmmm... let's see. lemon tart, lemon almond tart, blueberry tarts with lemon curd, strawberry tarts with lemon curd...
mail me some of those lemons!!! i got some lovely tart recipes.
Posted by: jeorg at March 3, 2008 07:39 PMAhh, spring. A season I'm not expecting to see until July here in Vermont, given that there are approximately 11,345 feet of snow on the ground right now.
Mmm ... LEMONS.
Posted by: jonniker at March 3, 2008 07:40 PMI volunteer but only so I can leave the bitter cold at my house and enjoy spring early! Seriously I don't expect there to be blossoms of any sort for any 8-10 weeks. That and I LOVE lemonade.
Posted by: Teej at March 3, 2008 07:42 PMI thought spring had arrived here. And then it snowed today.
What are the odds that you could ship me some of those lemons? Lemons are a Happy Fruit.
Or maybe I'll extend my visit by a few months. We can both lay on the patio and have our Pool Boys do the ladling ;)
Posted by: Angella at March 3, 2008 09:20 PMYour yard has me drooling for spring in my own - yay. And, lemons? So jealous!
Posted by: Elizabeth at March 3, 2008 10:14 PMNow, Leah, you know what they say: when life gives you lemons....
........make sure you present Holly with some the next time you see her.
Wait, that isn't how it goes? That's how I've always said it.
Oh my sweet lordy that is a lot of lemons. I am lucky if I get one a week from our tree, but that seems to be the way with fruit trees in the suburban garden downunder. Oh, the random other citrus in our garden has finally fruited, and it looks like its an orange not a lemon! Whoo hoo, I am going to nurture it so I can make marmalade without pinching oranges from next door! Glad your weather is warming up, autumn is fast approaching us!
Posted by: Super Sarah at March 4, 2008 01:09 AMSo jealous of your spring & your lemons. Why don't I live in California?!?
Posted by: jive turkey at March 4, 2008 06:23 AMFine, fine. I volunteer to come to San Francisco to ladel fresh squeezed lemonade into your mouth. But only if I can do it from the hot tub. I do have some standards, ya know.
Posted by: Heather B. at March 4, 2008 07:05 AMIt snowed in Texas (TEXAS!) last night. I need to check weather.com but I'm hoping this weather was isolated and spring will be waiting for us tomorrow or the next day. (Or this afternoon? Is that pushing it?)
Posted by: She Likes Purple at March 4, 2008 08:32 AMOh, how I wish we had lemons right now. I could use a lemon tree.
And spring looks gorgeous. I *sniff* miss it.
Posted by: Becky at March 4, 2008 09:51 AMHow is it already spring where you are...? It's still rainy, cold, and cloudy in Oregon.
Posted by: snowberrylane at March 4, 2008 10:01 AMIsn't the weather just glorious? I'm thanking my lucky stars every day that I left the winter gloom of NYC behind for the mild climate of NorCal!
Posted by: Camels & Chocolate at March 4, 2008 10:50 AMHooray for Weekend Lists! As opposed to the weekends when my lists consist of 1. got up, 2. moved to the couch, 3. shoved a whole block of cheese in my mouth.
I think there needs to be some lemon meringue pie baking going on around here. I volunteer Miles.
Posted by: Moose at March 4, 2008 12:47 PMI second that motion.
Posted by: Leah at March 4, 2008 01:16 PMStill crushed that I missed the Balderdashery. Hmph, next time.
Wow, look at all your lemons! So much feasting! Lemonade gorging! Ooh, you should make lemon sorbet. I have an EXCELLENT recipe!
Posted by: Jemima at March 4, 2008 03:27 PMJemima--You were missed, although it's a good thing you guys didn't come because you would have had to sit in another room--we were out of space!
Please share your recipe and I will bring some sorbet to the next Game Night!
Posted by: Leah at March 4, 2008 03:35 PMI am so jealous of all the lemons. Yum. Juice a bunch and freeze the juice for later!
We've been having the Four Seasons weather here in Austin. It's heat in the morning, AC during the day, and back to heat at night. Last Tuesday it got up to 92 and was down to 31 at night.
There are moments when I want to move to California; that bucket of lemons triggered my yearning yet again.
Posted by: Sara at March 5, 2008 08:20 AMMy teeth are still all grindy from missing you.
Also! We've been knee deep in lemon ice cream, lemon bars and lemon curd since lemon season commenced.
And tonight, I'm squeezing lemons for frozen lemon juice so I can have lemonade proper later this summer.
Lemon!
Posted by: helenjane at March 5, 2008 03:52 PMAre those Meyer? I made limoncello out of the ones I acquired (at a freeganish thing in SF, actually). Requires a microplane and very high proof vodka, is somewhat labour intensive and a long process (you have to let the planed peels stew for a few weeks). It produced very nice results, I think (so people tell me since I gave it all away).
Meyer is purportedly the closest american variety of lemon that actual italian limoncello is made out of.
Posted by: monkey at March 6, 2008 09:55 AMThey are Meyer. Amazingly sweet Meyer (although less sweet than they were last fall). I used to suppose the difference between Meyer and non-Meyer was all hype, but then I tasted one of ours, and they're seriously like a different fruit.
Posted by: Leah at March 6, 2008 10:34 AMMonkey's limoncello was awesome. I saved it for a long time and only finished it last fall.
Posted by: Emily at March 6, 2008 11:17 AMYeah, Meyer are just ridiculously better, aren't they?
Actually the thing about making limoncello is that I don't even recall using the juice (which you can use for lemonade or whatever your heart desires)-it's all in the oil in the peel. The thing about the Meyers is that their peel has a way more delicate flavour (on account of the cross with the clementine or whatever orangey citrus they're hybridised with) that is closer to the variety used in Italy. Or so people say. I found my recipe on egullet, if you're so inclined (google limoncello and egullet and it should come up...it's one of the most popular threads there).
I had a ton of fun making the limoncello-though it's very labour intensive and required hunting down 100 proof vodka. But fun nonetheless. I felt oh-so-Tuscan.
Posted by: monkey at March 6, 2008 02:11 PM
