What do you do when life gives you lemons?

You make a giant statue of a deity, of course.

In the city of Menton, on the French Riviera, La Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival) is celebrated every winter with Mardi Gras-style parades and floats made of lemons and oranges (the area is a huge producer of citrus fruits). If you hurry, you can just catch the tail end of it the day after tomorrow.

But if you can't make it, then celebrate the lemon French-style with a citron pressé, the French word for lemonade. (If you order limonade in France you'll get something more like Sprite or 7-Up.)

If you've ever had a lemonade in a cafe in France, then you know what the drill is. The waiter brings you a tumbler with a couple of inches of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Then he plunks down a carafe of cold water and hands you a bowl of sugar. The rest is up to you (and I could never get the dang sugar to completely dissolve). Only the French....

Love Affair with Southern Cooking

Jean Anderson, a well-known food writer and cookbook author, recently won a James Beard award for her cookbook A Love Affair with Southern Cooking. (Congratulations, Jean!) The love affair in the book's title comes not only from Jean's considerable talents and expertise as a food historian and cookbook author, but also from her birthright. Jean is a natural-born Southerner and currently lives in North Carolina.

The book is filled with great recipes, of course, but also lots of sidebars and timelines and interesting nuggets of Southern food lore. In collecting the recipes for the book, Jean drew heavily on her own upbringing as well as that of friends; and many of the recipes are Southern classics, like Jefferson Davis Pie, Robert E. Lee Cake, Country Captain or Hoppin' John.

When I was thinking what recipe I would like to share with you from Jean's book, I decided it had to be something typically North Carolina, so to me that meant something barbecued. As Jean puts it: "Of course, every southern state believes its barbecue to be 'the best in the world' and as a Tar Heel, I devoutly make that claim for North Carolina." [Scroll down for Jean's list of favorite North Carolina barbecue joints.]

The following recipe is not for a North Carolina-style barbecue (since I believe that involves a giant smoke pit and a whole hog), but for a really interesting sounding grilled pork tenderloin.

Spicy Grilled Pork Tenderloin
(adapted from A Love Affair with Southern Cooking by Jean Anderson. William Morrow, 2007)
Makes 4 to 6 servings
I hesitate to call this "barbecue" although some people might. It's unlike any barbecue I've eaten; still it's a popular way to prepare pork tenderloin down south.

— 2 large whole garlic cloves
— 4 large scallions, trimmed and chunked (white part only)
— 3/4 cup pineapple juice
— 1/2 cup cider vinegar
— One 8-ounce can tomato sauce
— 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
— 2 tablespoons molasses (not too dark)
— 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
— 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
— 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
— 1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
— Two 1-pound pork tenderloins
— 2 tablespoons cold butter, dice

1. Whiz the garlic, scallions, pineapple juice, and vinegar in an electric blender at high speed until smooth. Pour into a jumbo-size plastic zipper bag, add all remaining ingredients except the pork and butter, seal, and shake well to combine.
2. Add the pork tenderloins to the bag and reseal. Refrigerate overnight, turning the bag from time to time so the pork marinates evenly.
3. When ready to proceed, pour about 1/3 cup of the marinade into a measuring cup and reserve. Pour the balance into a heavy, nonreactive saucepan and set aside. Preheat the grill to moderate heat (375°F).
4. Grill the tenderloins with the lid up, turning and brushing now and then with the reserved 1/3 cup marinade, for 25 to 30 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer, thrust into the center of a tenderloin, reads 150°F.
5. Meanwhile, bring the pan of marinade to a boil over moderately high heat, reduce the heat to its lowest point, set the lid on the pan askew, and keep the sauce warm while the tenderloins grill.
6. Transfer the tenderloins to a carving board, tent with foil, and let stand for 5 minutes. Add any leftover basting marinade to that in the saucepan and simmer uncovered while the tenderloins rest. Just before serving, add the diced butter to the hot marinade bit by bit and whisk until smooth.
7. To serve, slice the tenderloins 1/2 inch thick, slightly on the bias. Fan out on heated dinner plates and top each portion with some of the hot marinade.

Here's a list of 'cue joints from Jean's book:
• Lexington Number One, Lexington, NC
• Stamey's, Greensboro, NC
• Short Sugar's, Reidsville, NC
• Melton's, Rocky Mount, NC
• Parker's, Wilson, NC
• Flip's, Wilmington, NC
• Wilber's, Goldsboro, NC
• Scott's, Goldsboro, NC
• Skylight, Ayden, NC
• A&M, Mebane, NC
• Scott Howell's Q Shack, Durham, NC

To find out more about Jean Anderson--she's written tons of other cookbooks and also won other James Beard awards--check out her website JeanAndersonCooks.

The original ice cream mix-in

There are several national chains of ice cream stores that specialize in ice cream with mix-ins. The way the stores work is the customer first chooses an ice cream flavor and then some number of mix-ins (crushed candy, crumbled cookies, nuts, etc.). The guy behind the counter puts everything on a marble counter, takes two flat scoops and mixes the whole thing together.

It's great news for ice cream lovers that the mix-in idea is so widespread, but I feel bound to mention that I went to college with a guy who I'm pretty sure invented this whole idea of marble slabs and mix-ins. His name is Steve Herrell and he's still in the ice cream business. He has a couple of stores in Massachusetts, including two in the Boston area. So if you're ever in the neighborhood, you should visit the inventor of the mix-in (or Smoosh-in®, as he calls it). Here's the link to his stores and their locations.