Too Many Lemons

"What are the reasons you bake? Do like the process of making things? Are you cooking for others? Are you baking so that you can eat it yourself\?"  Joaquim was peppering me with questions while I was working in the kitchen

Scrap reasons one and two, I told him.  Working in the kitchen isn’t that fun.  I have no interest in doing three hours of work so someone else can polish off food in 20 minutes.   I am selfish.  I only cook for myself.  Watch and see if I ever make anything I don’t like just because I want to please someone else.

So, ... wanting something good to eat and seeing a bag of 20 lemons for $6, I purchased them, looking forward to making some lemon tarts.

When I got out to the Shuswap with them, I found Bonnie already had 8 lemons in the fruit basket on the counter. Now I was  trapped with the other reason I cook -- I hate seeing food wasted and we now had a lot of lemons.

I began baking up loaves of lemon bread -- the kind that you bake and then pour syrup over when it comes out of the oven, just to enhance the crusty, outside with a sweet lemon syrup.  I use Nadine's recipe in the Johnson "Manna from Heaven" cookbook, but that is a standard loaf.

Then I switched to lemon tarts, having bought 3 new fluted pans and never having used them.

Three full recipes and 9 tarts later Bonnie and I were down to 8 lemons left.

Then I had to pack up and return to Calgary.

Anyone out there reading the blog with a new lemon recipe, or alternately, want a lemon tart delivered from Lot #3 at the Shuswap to their house.

Arta