I've got a kumquat tree!
Actually, not my first… had one at the other house but it was old and scraggly and tucked up next to the sunroom, just there to provide the girls a couple weeks of handy throw-able sized fruit. This one? This one is different. This one sits
just outside the back door weighted down with the most beautiful bright orange teardrops - an abundance that makes me giddy and dashing to Google for recipe suggestions.
Turns out that other than good looks, kumquats are kinda boring.
Excepting marmalade, it becomes apparent that cooks out there are grasping at straws when it comes to kumquats (Kumquat Beer? Really? Then again, Blue Moon with its orange/citrus tang is mighty tasty… hmmm) Truth be told, I’m more of a “strawberry preserves” kind of girl (read: sweet goo with my peanut butter) but to let this a whole tree of fruit go to waste seems downright criminal… so marmalade it is!
Turns out kumquats are reeeaaaallllyyy time consuming.
An hour of slicing, an hour of boiling, overnight standing, more boiling, jar processing and I’m rapidly gaining a greater appreciation for my mom and her yearly canning extravaganza that provided a family of six with tomatoes, beans, pickles and peaches. Seriously? I was maybe 10 before I realized you could buy them
already in cans at the grocery store… But I gotta say, it makes it somewhat worth it all when you hear the satisfying “thwink” of the canning lid sealing as the hot jar cools. Very neat. Very earth mother.
Turns out kumquat marmalade may be something of an… ah… acquired taste.
On the plus side, I’ll say it’s good in a slightly runny/sweet/tangy kind of way, probably better suited to scones than sandwiches. Which only means I now must learn to make scones. Great.
Tonight we had wedding cake for dinner! We did some potential wedding cake flavor sampling and then had plans to go to dinner but realized that we were all full... so we settled for some champagne instead.
Note: Katherine and I are sporting our Christmas presents from dad (hats made from a beaver he trapped last fall). Ridiculous? Possibly. Completely acceptable in NYC? Definitely. As we were walking to the subway to head home a woman actually stopped us to ask us where we got our hats because she liked them so much. Fashion mavens? Check.
