Spicy, Yet Simple, Lemon Pickle

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For the first time I made something that took two weeks to complete. Two weeks! Not shocking, then, that the thing is a pickle, though not "pickled" in the way of a cucumber. In case the lemons above didn't give it away, I made a simple lemon pickle. After boiling, slicing and coating with salt you're left with a hefty bit of rind (though the recipe does encourage you to use thin-skinned lemons, but how are you supposed to check for that?) and I admit I was cautious on taking my first bite, but was fairly surprised. Yes, you still taste lemon, yes, it's a powerful taste, but nothing bitter or overwhelming. I served it with spicy chicken tikka masala and the lemon power cut right through the chili and helped make the chicken a tad more calm.

Lemon Mint Drink

 If there is one thing a dry country does well, it's fruit juice. (And coffee, but that's another post.) Juices here (not just Kuwait, but all the Gulf states) are amazing; I had a watermelon-cherry combo in Dubai that made me throw back my head in surprised delight. Maybe (probably) it's the lack of the HFCS, but when I drink apple or orange or guava juice, it tastes exactly like the liquid form of those fruits. Which, you know, is the point.

And that brings me to mine (ha!): several weeks ago the outside temperature had cooled enough to make an evening walk enjoyable, so Seth and I wandered down to a shisha joint about a mile from our complex. (Can I take this moment to comment on how cheap it is to smoke shisha here? One hookah cost 750 fils - less than three dollars. Compare that to the 20 euro Seth and I spent at one place in Cyprus. Gah!) Anyway, I ordered a lemon mint juice and between the two of us, it was gone in about sixty seconds.