#119: Cook with home-grown herbs

I made a wonderful thing today. (Once again, it’s a serve of fruit, cunningly disguised as junk food due to the obscene sugar content.)

I squeezed one and a half oranges, two lemons, and three limes. That made about a cup and a half of juice. I added a cup of sugar and a cup and a half of water, plus half a teaspoon of bicarb soda (the secret ingredient).

Once they were mixed, they served five people – on the rocks, and strewn with mint leaves from my own mint plant.

I’ve never cooked with anything I grew* before. It was incredibly satisfying – and of course, insanely delicious.

Oh! And while I remember, I should mention that in this month’s twittertale each name is a tribute to a great writer (particularly those I associate with libraries) –

Nix, the monster mage, is named after Garth Nix. Apart from being a brilliant writer, he is a good person (and a Canberran). And he’s especially deserving of this tribute, since “Lirael” (the second book of his YA trilogy) has some of the msot excellent library scenes you’ll ever see.

Steve, the narrator/air mage, is named after Stephen Moffat, who’s written all the truly excellent recent “Dr Who” episodes (including one in an abandoned library).

Terry, the mind mage, is named after Terry Prachett, in tribute to the Unseen University library that features in many of his discworld books.

Phil, the muscle mage, is named after both Philip Reeve (his “Larklight” series is the funniest adventure series ever, and is safe for any age) and Philip Pullman (who has never once written an ordinary book).

The cthulhus are secretly named Clive (after C. S. Lewis) and Pam (after Pamela Freeman). Just because they’re excellent (the writers are excellent, I mean – although the cthulhus are too).

*stole

And from bookshelfporn.com, here’s another wonderful thing: