Just because I am frugal, doesn't mean I don't like indulgence once in a while. I was tinkering around in the kitchen today and poking through my fruit basket when I found a wrinkly mandarin orange, too dry to enjoy, a lemon just past its' prime and an orange that time almost forgot. What to do? Well, I wasn't too sure, but I decided I had better act fast if I didn't want to waste perfectly fine citrus. I set to peeling and chopping the zest into pieces and put them in a pot to simmer. Then I cut the lemon into thick slices. It was turning brown on the inside. I was going to use it for a lemon/orangeade combo, but the brown turned me off. Probably, it would have been fine. Instead, I decided to try out a trick I once read in a magazine; cleaning my copper pots. I can attest that lemon juice is a very strong acid and with a small amount of elbow grease, my copper bottomed pots have been reborn! I highly recommend this tactic to tackle your copper. While I was scrubbing away, my lemon and orange peels began to become fragrant as the simmered in the pot, making my home smell divine. I poured off the liquid over the peeled oranges and used my immersion blender to turn it all into juice. I poured that into a recycled sports bottle and put it in the fridge. I'll try it tomorrow. Then, I had softened peels and was about to throw them away when it struck me that they might make a nice foot soak. I got out my trusty foot bath (a plastic dish drainer from the thrift store) and threw in the peels, some salt, a handful of oats, the last dribble of olive oil, and a pinch of cinnamon. Presently, I sit in absolute blogger's transpose as my hard calloused feet are softened into submission in all the luxurious splendour. Yes, this is how I spend my Saturday nights. Ain't no shame in it. No shame whatsoever. I like to think that the ladies above would agree with me. If they read blogs. They might. One never knows.
