Green Oranges
“On the table, with candlesticks around it, was a big white cake and a box of chocolates, and beside these a basket with a magnum of champagne peeking out of crushed ice.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
Before I introduce the ultimate pound cake I should explain how green oranges became this weeks obsession. Around the block from our house is a vacant lot. Mr R tells me there once was a house there. It must have been a long time ago because only the foundation, a ramshackle shed and a few trees and shrubs remain. The apples on the huge apple tree ripened early and I missed harvesting them. Across the lot a small citrus tree clings to life. It’s hugging the fence. Maybe there’s water on the other side of the property line. After I missed the apples I started keeping closer tabs on the citrus tree. I was amazed at the amount of fruit the little tree was producing. The fruit was very small, green, hard and round. At first I thought I’d found lemons that just weren’t ripening. Finally when some of the fruit began to get a touch of color and was dropping to the ground I brought one home. The exterior had a coat of dull fuzz that I scrubbed off. The fruit was a pale luminescent green inside and the juice was very bitter, but not unpleasant. I was convinced I had found a lime tree. But what I had found was a very sad orange tree with bitter fruit.