In November, I made pickled radishes. I wanted them to resemble takuan, those yellow pickled daikon slices often served with onigiri, but I did not have the proper ingredients. For one thing, the radishes I had were little round red salad radishes, and for another, I had no rice vinegar. I bought some cheap white vinegar and mixed it with sugar, salt, red pepper flakes and turmeric. I expected the turmeric to turn the radishes yellow.

However, the red pigment in the radish skins dissolved and combined with the turmeric to make a uniform carroty orange. They were, after a few weeks, still tasty, but not quite takuan.

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In late November we found a couple dozen lemons and limes. I decided to preserve most of my lemons. Preserving lemons is a simple process: cut them lengthwise into quarters almost all the way to the end. The lemon will still be in one piece with the four sections sort of like petals. You open that up and spoon a tablespoon of salt inside, then pack them into a container, fill it with lemon juice, and leave it alone (except the first few days, open the container a little bit to let the air out) for a month. I put an espresso cup inside the container to press the lemons down and keep them under the juice, and set a plate underneath to catch any juice that might leak out. I had considered seasoning them, but decided that plain would be more versatile. They’d be ready by the day before my birthday; a gift to myself.

The result: basically just a lemon, softened and salted, ready to be eaten skin and all. And the lemons I didn’t preserve? They’re actually still in pretty ok shape in the fridge.