Food Interlude I - Lemons

Tipolo (pronounced tea-poh-loh) = Lemons

My Mum always made the best lemonade. If she was to share her perfect recipe with you, she could not give you any definite measurements. It's the Samoan way. "About this many lemons, about this much sugar and put some water in it. There. What's your problem?" Mine never turns out. It's either too sweet, too sour or too much water and Mum knows just what's missing from my Lemonade and how to fix it. Somehow, she has passed this gift onto my oldest son. He now makes the best lemonade in our house. He could probably give you some exact measurements so that you could replicate it but he refuses to. He wants to be the "special lemonade chef" in our home. Fine then. Make me some lemonade!

It took me until now to figure out why lemons made a regular appearance in my home growing up. My Mum had several lemon trees on her plantation! Can you imagine having lemon trees in your backyard? I was raised in Canada. I couldn't imagine it. During my youth, I spent some time in New Zealand visiting family. They had a lemon tree in their backyard. When I was making a cheesecake and needed a little lemon juice, my Mum said, "just go get the fresh lemon from the tree!" *Duh!* It was a new and exciting thing for me to pick the beautiful lemon and taste the fresh juice. It added the perfect brightness to compliment the rich and creamy cream cheese.

I asked my Mum what she used lemons for in Samoa. Her first response was "lemon water". Did you add sugar? "Oh yes!" So, you made lemonade. "Yes! We drank it a lot." Anything else Mum? "Our hair." Why? "It made our hair soft but it took a long time to comb out the pulp." (google: "lemons for hair" and you'll find some juicy hair tips!) When you see and feel Samoan women's hair, you'll understand why they were trying to soften their hair. Their hair is naturally coarse and the girls usually had A LOT of it! Come back here in a couple of weeks (I need to find the pic at Mum's house)and I'll post a picture of my Mom with her gorgeous, long, Island hair. Her hair was magical! She looked so different when it was up vs. when it was down. I've always wished to have long hair like my Mums but mine just would not grow as long.

I have vivid memories growing up, of my Mum washing her hair with lemons. It made her SO happy! She would tell me she's going to wash her hair with lemons with the same excitement a child exhibits when they tell you that they're going to buy their favourite candy at the store. Then, Mum would spend quite a while in that bathroom and come out smiling, laughing and happy as a little girl on Christmas morning. She smelled fresh and lemony. Probably a little over the top for a cool Canadian day but it made her happy, so, I would just smile and give the thumbs up. It all makes sense now. Lemons probably brought the sunshine of Samoa back to my Mum.

They now make me feel very happy and warm too. I even like to just have them around on the table or counter top in a lovely bowl. Simple. Lemon. Joy.

What else did you use lemons for Mum? "They would squeeze it on raw fish but I don't like the raw fish." We did squeeze its savoury juice over any fish Mum served though. Is it possible to eat fish without lemon juice? I think not! What my Mum also liked (when I was growing up) was making rice pudding and adding lemon zest to it. It always livened up our pudding with another layer of yummy, zesty, happy flavour.

Mum also made delicious lemon squares. I hate the store bought ones. They never do a lemon justice. I always thought lemon squares were hard to make. I finally made them from scratch recently and felt elated that they were SO easy to make and then that first bite of lemony goodness was dessert divinity. I found the recipe here: The Best Lemon Bars Recipe. Click. Cook. Indulge.

My kids cooked some up while I was writing this post. I helped very little. They turned out like glorious lemon cloud treats.

Do you have any other memories of lemons Mum? "No. What do you mean? Well, the lemon trees we had were VERY tall. We couldn't climb them. They had those - what do you call those prickly things on a rose bush?" Thorns? "Yes! They were covered in thorns. So my Dad made a long stick with a curve at the end that we could reach the lemons with. We had four or five trees. They grew all year round." All. Year. Round. Were lemons meant to bring us year round joy? I think so! Even my Dad got on the lemon boat every winter. Got a cold? Flu? Sore throat? Just sniffles? Lemon and honey. Lemon and honey and garlic. Drink it warm and drink lot of it. That same drink soothes me today even more than it did as a child.

Speaking of children, my kids joined me with a few fun lemon pics:

Today, lemons have a new association for me - besides all of the above food memories and stories. The word 'lemon' reminds me of the brilliant Canadian duet that is "Lennon and Maisy" (ages 14 & 9). Their natural, pure and perfect harmonies remind me of Samoans singing together with the same natural skill and a whole lot of heart. I'd like to dedicate this post and this song, to my husband, who turns 38 tomorrow. We've made a lot of Lemonade in life together and Babes, you're MY sweetheart.