When life gives you lemons

Let me introduce you to Liz Lemon, my dwarf Meyer lemon tree. She was a housewarming gift (from me to me, which lets face it, is often the best kind of housewarming gift) when I moved into my happy little apartment. Normally I wouldn’t splurge on an expensive plant (my history with orchids etc is not that great. Thought I certainly don’t have a brown thumb, I also have never been good with high maintenance plants) but we were having a 50% off sale at work, and I figured why not buy myself a lemon tree? Sadly, Liz isn’t doing so well these days, but our first few months together were great! I was such a happy camper coming home to a bright cheery citrus plant in my yellow kitchen.

Thankfully, one of the perks of my job is that I have access to plant gurus seven days a week, so I think I am going to take Liz Lemon to the greenhouse for a little TLC while I finish up the move. Not sure what happened when I was in DC, but she took a turn for the worse... Perk up little lemon tree! I had reservations about bringing her home at first, because I had a sneaking suspicion that I might not be a “lemon tree whisperer” and that something would inevitably go awry, but I figured at 50% off why not give it a try? Thankfully I’ve heard that they bounce back pretty well, and I’m hopeful that after a little fertilization and greenhouse resuscitation she will be ok.   It’s been fun to slice up fresh lemon to put in my water, and my absolute favorite thing around the holidays was making lemon infused vodka. Who knew that HRD could taste so good?

 Christmas Basket with Lemon Vodka

I also made some lemon curd, which was absolutely divine. (but really, eggs, lemon, sugar, butter, how could it be bad?) Look forward to many more culinary adventures with her assistance, lemon sorbet anyone?

 

 

 Making the Lemon Curd