It was almost two weeks into a forced closedown that during a visit to a farmers market I spied a huge cardboard of yellow, thick skinned lemons- they looked like oval oranges with a bright yellow hue.
At $5 for the whole box, I decided a month of lemon tea is worth the price so quickly added it to the cart.
Back home, I started making it and enjoyed the sweet tangy taste, every morning tea was followed by breakfast with lemon ginger drinks. A week later, we both felt less bloated, no aches or pain in joints, alert reflexes and our zest for life improved as depression seemed to dissipate.
The box of lemons spread a lovely aroma within the kitchen, the counter tops gleamed as I used the squeezed out lemons to scrub the sink, wipe out the tiles, polish copper bottomed pots and pans, even polish the door knobs and handles (an antiseptic to prevent any chance of the virus entering home).
One cold wintry day on a whim decided to make yellow pickle (as my kids called it), a simple salt, ginger, 16 slit, quartered green long peppers, roasted and powdered cumin, fenugreek added to 10 large lemons cut into quarters, then further into 16 diced bits. Tossed into it some mint and curry leaves, turmeric powder, a pinch of asafotedia, powdered peppercorns(10 ), the juices did the trick, the addition of 3 cups of vinegar helped break own the sharp tangy taste to create our very own bit of manna from heaven.
Oh, my saved pickle bottles were filled in, we decided to drop off one each to the homes of our 15 Asian friends and a few close neighbors in the 300 house complex, our way of spreading cheer and goodwill.
The requests for gooseberry pickle, tomato pickle, gonghura, bittergourd pickle started pouring in- we honoured them as a means to keep ourselves busy. As long as the basic ingredients were available, we enjoyed making and disturbuting it.
Our mailbox was soon full of envelopes from out grateful friends, some sent amazon gift cards, come cash, others sent books, pillow covers, embroidery floss, DIY kits, plants, the exchanges kept multiplying. Every day a new thankyou note with a return gift appeared, all we could do was wave and smile as the community began the new norm of staying connected again.
The motivation helped us take a big step, we filed a patent for our canned and pickled items that we marketed in our locality. Word of mouth spread and our community reachout collected orders for around 500 pieces, with repeat orders from the college community, the tiffin delivery service, even Asian grocery store wanted our brand as the fresh taste was relished by all who tasted it.
To say we enjoy the act of keeping connected by sending a simple encouraging note with every bottle we mail or that is collected from our porch is the truth.
Stay safe, keep the faith, there is always a silver lining to every act of Nature.
We just have to look for it and run with it.
At $5 for the whole box, I decided a month of lemon tea is worth the price so quickly added it to the cart.
Back home, I started making it and enjoyed the sweet tangy taste, every morning tea was followed by breakfast with lemon ginger drinks. A week later, we both felt less bloated, no aches or pain in joints, alert reflexes and our zest for life improved as depression seemed to dissipate.
The box of lemons spread a lovely aroma within the kitchen, the counter tops gleamed as I used the squeezed out lemons to scrub the sink, wipe out the tiles, polish copper bottomed pots and pans, even polish the door knobs and handles (an antiseptic to prevent any chance of the virus entering home).
One cold wintry day on a whim decided to make yellow pickle (as my kids called it), a simple salt, ginger, 16 slit, quartered green long peppers, roasted and powdered cumin, fenugreek added to 10 large lemons cut into quarters, then further into 16 diced bits. Tossed into it some mint and curry leaves, turmeric powder, a pinch of asafotedia, powdered peppercorns(10 ), the juices did the trick, the addition of 3 cups of vinegar helped break own the sharp tangy taste to create our very own bit of manna from heaven.
Oh, my saved pickle bottles were filled in, we decided to drop off one each to the homes of our 15 Asian friends and a few close neighbors in the 300 house complex, our way of spreading cheer and goodwill.
The requests for gooseberry pickle, tomato pickle, gonghura, bittergourd pickle started pouring in- we honoured them as a means to keep ourselves busy. As long as the basic ingredients were available, we enjoyed making and disturbuting it.
Our mailbox was soon full of envelopes from out grateful friends, some sent amazon gift cards, come cash, others sent books, pillow covers, embroidery floss, DIY kits, plants, the exchanges kept multiplying. Every day a new thankyou note with a return gift appeared, all we could do was wave and smile as the community began the new norm of staying connected again.
The motivation helped us take a big step, we filed a patent for our canned and pickled items that we marketed in our locality. Word of mouth spread and our community reachout collected orders for around 500 pieces, with repeat orders from the college community, the tiffin delivery service, even Asian grocery store wanted our brand as the fresh taste was relished by all who tasted it.
To say we enjoy the act of keeping connected by sending a simple encouraging note with every bottle we mail or that is collected from our porch is the truth.
Stay safe, keep the faith, there is always a silver lining to every act of Nature.
We just have to look for it and run with it.
Wow! Ranjini tusk great ho! What a way to pass your time fruitfully. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteI meant tusi great ho! This spell check keeps interfering
ReplyDelete