This time of the year my kitchen is a workshop for making Christmas gifts.

Lemons are sunny, versatile fruit that can be used to create sweet and savory treats. Blueberry lemon marmalade is the first of three lemon gifts from my holiday the kitchen.

I made this marmalade for Jeanine, a baker – friend, who will appreciate this delicately tinted pink topper for her homemade scones. Here’s how I made it: … read more

It all began on a Thursday in September when I posted the following:

Charles and I are flying to Sicily for our son’s wedding. Matthew and Alison will be married in Siracusa. Sicily is known for its lemons and also for Limoncello – a lemon flavored liquor server over crushed ice.

I met a woman at the farmers’ market last week and she said the most difficult part of making Limoncello is the waiting. It takes at least two weeks between step one and step two. A perfect recipe for me since I will be far away from my kitchen for two weeks. Here’s the first step.

Limoncello – Part 1

I put the zest of eight lemons into a fifth of cheap 100 proof vodka. Her recipe specified ‘cheap’ vodka because it would have no flavor. I used a micro plane to grate the lemon zest and poured two tablespoon of the vodka down the drain so that there would be space for the zest in the bottle. The zest and vodka need to wait in the dark for at least two weeks before the mixture is strained and sweetened. I’ll post the second part of her recipe when I have returned from Sicily where I will have done some Limoncello tasting.

This is the post that finishes the story.

The wedding was perfect.  The bride radiant, the groom beamed, Ho-hee friends smiled, family delighted, children gorgeous, food amazing, Siracusa gorgeous!

Rather than two weeks, the vodka and zest waited two months. Here’s how I did it: … read more

In the last few weeks I have been spending lots of time with Julia Child and Judith Jones. It all began when I saw Julie & Julia. Wanting more, I read Julia Child’s memoire My Life in France.

Wanting still more, I read The Tenth Muse by Judith Jones. Spending time with these two inspiring women made me hungry for Madeleines. I made a batch of these buttery, golden shell shaped, sponge cakes for the first leg of our trip to Sicily. Here’s how I did it.   … read more

On Thursday, Charles and I are flying to Sicily for our son’s wedding. Matthew and Alison will be married in Siracusa. Sicily is known for its lemons and also for Limoncello – a lemon flavored liquor server over crushed ice.
I met a woman at the farmers’ market last week and she said the most difficult part of making Limoncello is the waiting. It takes at least two weeks between step one and step two. A perfect recipe for me since I will be far away from my kitchen for two weeks. Here’s the first step. … read more