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no lemon pun needed


After several weeks of travel and weddings and basically just running around (and having no time to blog, unfortunately), this weekend, I finally had some quiet time at home.

I decided to spend it in the kitchen, making lemon sorbet with fresh fruit from our Meyer lemon tree. (Really, there is nothing better than thinking, Oh, I need a lemon! and then just walking outside to pick one right off the tree.)

I used a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. It looked simple enough: Boil 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Let cool. Mix in lemon juice and zest. Put everything in the ice cream maker. And voilà -- lemon sorbet like the one in the photo.

Or not.

Unfortunately, I didn't take into account the fact that Meyer lemons are already pretty sweet. Adding a cup of sugar to that mix was just way too much. The resulting sorbet was probably the most unbalanced, overpowering thing I have tasted in a long time. The lemon was out-of-control strong, and the sugar just exaggerated the flavors. I felt like my teeth were being coated. And when the brewer/gardener/recipe taster tried it, he launched into a coughing fit. And couldn't stop.

"It's just so lemony," he said.

The only thing that can even remotely salvage this sorbet disaster is a whole lot of sparkling wine: Add one small scoop of sorbet to a Champagne glass, cover liberally with a Brut sparkler and (hopefully) enjoy.

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