Experiments in the kitchen and on the "design wall"

I love, love, love lemons!  They're my favorite fruit by a long shot, and yes, I even eat them all by themselves!!  I've never had a great sense of smell, so I really gravitate towards those "4 tongue tastes"... sweet, sour, bitter and salty.  Lemons are such a nice strong sour that I just can't get enough of them. 

I don't know why it took my over 40 years to first read about preserved lemons, but as soon as I did, I knew I had to try to make these!  I ran across the recipe when I was searching for recipes using pine nuts, as our basil (to use with the pine nuts for pesto) got nailed by an early frost last fall, and I had lot of extra pine nuts.  I came across a recipe for couscous with pine nuts and preserved lemons on the Food Network's website.  He gives directions on how to make preserved lemons too.

So finally I decided to give them a try.  Like many good things, though, they require a wait.  Most recipes say 3 weeks or so.  I'll let you know when I give them a try!

Has anyone else ever eaten or made these?  I'm so excited to give them a try!!

I also finished up the last of my granny squares.  I only had 40 charms squares from a local swap to work with.  These are not colors I keep in my stash, and I'm reluctant to buy additional fabric.  So I'm calling it quits after only 10 squares, and trying to come up with a layout.  I could make a small baby quilt, which was my original plan, but the mom to be just lost their baby in her 2nd trimester.  We're still getting used to this new reality.

I could also make a slightly bigger lap quilt.

Or, I could employ a lot of "negative space", and make an even bigger twin sized quilt.

I'm leaning towards the last option.  Just think of all the fun quilting that could be done in that "negative" space... very positive!

I'd love to hear your opinions on the design, and culinary experiences with preserved lemons!  I'm linking up with Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday, and Debbie, at A Quilters Table.  Debbie's husband just made home made sausage, something we've been wanting to try for years now!!  I'm so impressed!