Wednesday, December 15, 2010

zest

What exactly is zest?
  • Spirited enjoyment!
  • Gusto!
  • The name on the bar of soap in my shower.

 Oh...and one more definition:
  • The outermost part of the rind of an orange, lemon, or other citrus fruit, used as flavoring.
 Here's a little 'spirited enjoyment' for your reading pleasure today.  Armed with a recipe which called for orange zest...my friend went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients.  When she was unable to find orange zest...she decided to ask for help.  Orange zest?  No...they did not carry that product.  But they suggested she might just buy the orange...and make her own.  She was not aware that  grated orange peel was called 'orange zest'?  They all had a good laugh at the grocery store.  And then we all had a good laugh when she shared the story with us.


My friend...who is always full of zest and zing...won't mind that I shared her story with you today.  She thinks a day without laughter is a wasted day...she gave me the tile that reminds me daily of that fact. So laugh a little...and if you need some added zest...buy a lemon...and a zester.

16 comments:

  1. Love this story. Reminds me of years ago when my mother-in-law and her other daughter-in-law (2 of them, mind you) went to the local grocery store looking on the shelves for H2O for a punch recipe. Of course, think about it...this was long before bottled water. It was always laughed about in the family.

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  2. And I can't blame her! How long have they been calling it 'zest'? I remember calling it 'grated orange rind'. Dairymary

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  3. Some fine day, someone is going to bottle that stuff, I'm sure. Until then, I hope that your friend has an easy time making her own. Susan's story has me in stitches!

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  4. Thanks for the first laugh of my day!

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  5. I'll never zest another lemon without thinking of this. So funny and nice that your friend doesn't take herself too seriously.

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  6. Love that story Judy. Thanks for the laugh and thank you to your friend!

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  7. Nice post! I just added lemon and orange zest to my Christmas mincemeat. I love the tile...so true!

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  8. A post full of zest! Love this story and Susan's as well. And indeed, what is a day without laughter!

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  9. And this girl belongs to the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog...She needs to be terminated....
    Laughing all the way......

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  10. Chuckle. Didn't we have to put that word in our glossary? I just want to call it grated lemon/orange peel ...

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  11. And wouldn't "Zing" and "Zest" be great nicknames for a pair of twin toddlers?
    My understanding of the cooking terms was that grated peel included the flesh of the fruit while the zest was the scraping that released the fruit skin's oil and fluid, with very little pulp. My dad can not abide bits of peel but is OK with zest. But then again, he is a fussy one about such things!

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  12. see. ..Jill knew. How fun! I had no idea that zest was such a mystery. It has provided some much needed mirth around our Christmas preparations so I am thankful that all of us Mennonite Girls all lack in some culinary definitions from time to time.

    Love this post Judy!

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  13. This was fun to read! It's true that laughter can be the best medicine!

    I've actually seen dried orange and lemon zest in spice bottles in some gourmet stores, Judy, but I'm sure it isn't readily available.

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  14. Funny story, glad you shared Judy.
    Then there is the story of the gal who went to the grocery store looking for 'scratch'. She said her mother made everything from 'scratch'.

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  15. haha, that's great! Reminds me of the time my friend went to the store, asking for guacamoles in order to make guacamole... only to find out they were made from avocados! :)

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  16. Love this kind of story! Love times of laughter. I read recently that laughter is so theraputic and I believe that to be true, even if it is at someone else's expense. Usually, I am that one...ask any of my sisters. No, on second thought don't:) Neither of you will ever forget what "zest" is.

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'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson