Lemons and Divinity

In the past when life has given me lemons I have....sliced them, dipped them in salt and eaten them. This drives my dear sweet Mama crazy because lemons are acidic and salt is acidic and I feel sure that she has special vision that allows her to see my teeth eroding before her very eyes. But that is her burden to bear because that is how I like my lemons. I also like lemons in salsa, on chicken, in salad dressing, as sorbet or as lemon curd on a fresh scone. I do not, however, usually drink lemonade.

This weekend I threw ritual to the wind and decided that if I took my pent up aggression out on a few dozen helpless citrus fruits I might feel better. Luckily for me life is not only metaphorically giving me lemons at this moment but it is also actually providing me with lemons. Our neighborhood is carved out of an old grove, sweet huh? Or is it tart? Not sure.

(P.S This is my run route too)

I picked the lemons. Then I picked about 20 burrs off my jeans and out of my shoes (who knew lemon trees were so aggressive?)

I washed the lemons. I cut the lemons. I discovered a new paper cut on my thumb.

I juiced the lemons.

I used raw sugar for my lemonade resulting in a brownish hue.

It was a lot of work for a delectable mid-afternoon drink but in the end it was an excellent way to spend a Saturday.

Today I awoke with the same sense of emptiness that always occurs when you have to spend the weekend filling up time instead of relaxing with your spouse. I am currently reading Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult, who is one of my favorite authors. This novel features a former pastry chef and so part of the narration includes recipes.

Saturday night I came upon a recipe for a candy called Divinity. How could that NOT be yummy? Lucky for me I had all the ingredients and a lot of free time. So today I made Divinity. It is essentially boiling sugar and corn syrup added to beaten egg whites and then beat some more. Thank goodness for my KitchenAid mixer. It was a beautiful day and so, as I dealt with sticky perfection in the kitchen, I left the backdoor open so the dogs could come and go as they pleased. Koda took this opportunity to spend 15 minutes howling at a hot air balloon...productive.

My problem now. I have to find someone to drink all the lemonade and eat all the Divinity.

Tonight I got to talk to my better half, he told me that I should play the numbers 2,11,6,8,32 in the lottery on Monday (a running joke because he is a day ahead of me in Japan). He also told me that my plan to watch "Taking Chance" by myself tonight was a horrendous idea. I told him that Netflix had sent it to me and I was not sending it back unwatched. Now next time we speak he will get the opportunity to use every spouse's favorite phrase, "I told you so".

Poor lil' box of tissues, it never saw me coming...

One week down and roughly five months and three weeks to go.

Here are some other snip its of my last few days..

How was your weekend?