Its spring time here! Woohoo! My spirits were very much effected by the lack of sun for the last several months, more so than I realized, until today when I was able to have a glorious adventure in the sun. As many of the people who have visited me in Oakland know, my house is on the edge of a vast expanse of a globalized industrial wasteland AKA. the port of Oakland. In the middle of this hundreds of acres sprawl exists an oasis of nature, undergoing a huge restoration and preservation project called the Middle Shoreline Park. To commemorate the arrival of springtime Billy & I (along with a one michael gensington) packed a lemon-inspired picnic and biked to this park.
When I went to the produce market on the way home from work Saturday I was shocked to see such a stocked sale rack. (this particular place bags up the older, broken, or almost rotten goods and sells them so cheap!) I got a 5 lbs bag of broken zucchini halves for $1 and about 30 lemons for $2. Life is good 
When I got home I began forming my plan of attack. At the picnic we ate : lemon poppy seed muffins, lemon-zucchini bread, lemonade(although it was store-bought), and a quick-sort-of tabbouleh.
The muffins didn’t come out as moist or as lemony as I would have liked, so I’ll hold off on the recipe until I’ve mastered it, but the pseudo tabbouleh & zucchini bread were stellar!
Zucchini Bread w/lemon
2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
2 t garam masala blend*
aprox 3 cups grated zucchini
2/3 c oil
1 egg (or apple sauce)
1 t lemon zest
1/2- 3/4 cup raisins
2 t cider vinegar
1/2 c lemon juice
Method: Pre-heat oven to 350. Sift the flour, spice, & baking powder. Mix with sugar. In a clean bowl grate the zucchini, and add all the wet ingredients except the lemon juice. Mix the wet + dry, slowly add the lemon juice. Mix as little as possible. Pour into a greased baking vessel (I used a 4 X 9 loaf pan, but I’m sure anything will do). Bake for about an hour, until a stick comes out clean.
the trinity of celery, onions and carrots- the foundation for chicken soup. I sauteed these vegetables plus some garlic and bay leaf to make a basic risotto. At the end rather than stirring in grated cheese I used lemon zest to give it a nice bite; a great suggestion I borrowed from 
Tender strips they sell at Harvest (best deal around $3.50 a pound). I tossed them with olive oil, salt pepper and dried oregano then layered some lemon slices over the top. Baked in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes, then let them sit on the stove top covered for another 10 minutes the let the juices redistribute. Garnish with a little fresh parsley or chopped celery leaves and dinner is served.