The other day I cut into a lemon to make the lemon-egg sauce used in many Turkish recipes.  And this was the cross section – a throw-back to my left ovary in its artificially hyper-stimulated heyday.  Follicles are not exactly round and perfect, as one would otherwise think.  They’re smooshed together like a bunch of sleeping hamsters, with forms malleable enough to manage the crowded quarters prior to egg retrieval.  During an IVF cycle, daily – sometimes twice daily – follicle-stimulating hormone injections will hopefully yield a dozen 15-20mm follicles in each ovary.

This lemon made me laugh (inasmuch as citrus fruit can do such a thing).  I’ve been having another writing dry spell.  Let’s just call this lemon what it is – a nudge that reminds me to get cracking.  I abandoned my blog for summer fun, stacked my #amwriting #kidlit projects with the rest of my unopened mail, and my cooking has been Surf Taco on speed dial.

from Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago

For anyone who’s ever had a creative dry spell, you know exactly what I mean.  At first it doesn’t seem like there’s a problem.  Too many other things in the way to even notice.  And then, the lazy days of summer start to roll into fall…

In a piece published back in 1858 in the Atlantic Monthly, Oliver Wendell Holmes said it beyond-compare beautifully, that “to reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it, – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”

So for all those, like me, who have been lying at anchor, start slicing open your lemons, remind yourself of the follicles of potential waiting to be extracted, and go make a mess in your kitchen…perhaps by simply starting with the sauce.

Good night, Cecily.

Lemon-Egg Sauce:

Ingredients

• 2 egg yolks
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 tbspn of water
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

1. separate egg yolks from the whites
2. whisk the yolks with lemon juice
3. add water, whisk
4. add parsley, whisk