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Our sweet neighbor Julia welcomed Daphne into the world with a gorgeous Buddha’s hand citron. My interpretation of this generous event is thus: make a delicious limoncello-like Italian cordial with it and propose a bottleful of toasts! This is my first foray into citruscello land, but I have it on good faith that it couldn’t be simpler: zest about a quarter-cup of zest from citrus of choice, let it steep in good-quality vodka for two weeks, then add sweetener of choice, along with some water, and freeze. If I like the buddhacello results, it won’t be long till kaffiracello, yuzucello, et cetera! I almost never drink hard booze — wine with meals and beer on a hot day keep my liver with plenty to do — but this is more like a tiny hit of boozy dessert than a slam ‘em shot of something hard … besides, they will make cool little xmas gifts in smaller bottles. Will post the results in a month or so.
I’m feeling pretty sleep-deprived these days, so not a lot of adventurous cooking. Hugely grateful to friends who are dropping off bags of both ingredients and cooked food. Even still, I feel there’s always time for a good, proper breakfast, heated-up leftovers for lunch, and simple dinners with lots of greens. Desserts, too, are in high demand. Not my forte or natural inclination, yet I’m enjoying making them — different tapiocas are showing up with regular frequency, so I hope to work up a post on tapioca experiments soon.
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I did Buddhacello last year from our crop, and used Everclear instead of vodka. Being the guy that I am, and knowing that the pith on BH is good, I actually made two infusions, one with the zest, and one with everything else. After infusing for a nice long time, I tasted both, and decided that they were both tasty, so I combined them. This, or course, means that you can just chop up the whole thing to make a bigger batch.
I like Buddha. I like Cello. First time I have seen they can be combined!
Look forward to symphonies of gustatory awakening. All the best to you, D&D!
John/Tokyo