I’m very lucky to have an older Sicilian neighbour with a lemon tree. It’s decades old and has been doing it tough over a very dry winter and early spring, yet it’s still gives forth an abundance of generously juicy lemons. Some also making it across the fence to me thanks to my neighbour offering them by the bucketful, or sometimes quietly leaving a few at my front door. Always a welcome gift!
Over the years, we’ve used them in so many meals and drinks and this time it’s lemon granita. It tastes quite sharp since home-grown lemons aren’t always as sweet as shop ones but very refreshing.
The bowl the granita is in happens to be a precious one I don’t often use – an original, 1950s sundae bowl from Nonno Anni and Nanna Francesca’s milk bar. I only have one! They used these a lot for ice cream and fruit salad, so this bowl must’ve seen a bit of action at the milk bar in its time.
I found the little sunflower spoon in a second-hand market in Italy many years ago and the cut-glass bowl holding the lemons was Nanna Francesca’s that I still use. (In it, she’d serve the lettuce tossed with oil and vinegar at the big family lunches when she’d cook for everyone.)
It seems there are always those varying layers of past and present, Italy, Australia, different generations, even in the simplicity of some home-grown lemons. (And these ones just seem to radiate light and happiness with a fresh, zingy scent.) A grande grazie to my Sicilian neighbour and to the kindness of neighbours who pass lovely garden gifts over the fence. 😊💛🍋
