My neighbor Susan has an herb garden of rosemary, basil, sage, bay leaves… She also grows lemons, pears, tomatoes and apples. When the picking season is over she preserves the lemons with salt and olive oil, adding cinnamon sticks and cloves for flavor. The salted lemon is a Moroccan specialty that the dish tajin (stew) is incomplete without it.
Each winter Susan brings me a jar of the salted lemon and clippings of a variety of herbs. In the summer she brings lavender. I cherish these gentle gifts, and when the aroma fills the house when I put them in my cooking I think of her.
Her face when we parted/a parting I can never forget/and for the keepsake she left it /printed on the moon. (Saigyo, 1118-1190)
