A couple of random NoCal thoughts. We just picked up our CSA box (that’s Community Supported Agriculture, not Confederate States of America, though the fake documentary film “CSA” depicting the USA if the South had won the Civil War is outrageously cool) and we are awash in kiwi fruit! Kath found a great simple dessert recipe for sliced berries and peeled, cubed kiwi. No sauce, no chaser: serve with your favorite late harvest sweetie, or single malt. Got a couple of grapefruit, too. To paraphrase the great Noel Coward, “Girl have I got a few cocktails up with which I could hook you!” Taste-tay!

Never told y’all about the lemon tree on the property down the street. Turn off the main drag onto our rue, and things go from old-skool to McMansion. I think our street used to be a dead-end until a developer petitioned to extend the street into a series of curlicues and thermometer-bulb cul-de-sac streets. As is apparent below, Kath and I live in the McMansion section. BTW, I think I dodged a bullet when my east neighbor lent me a saw to cut down vegetation that was threatening to compromise our fence. (I do not want to hear the words “Hey, Tony, what say we go halves on a new fence?”)

Anyway (hoo?), Ever since we’ve moved in in August, we have seen this mature lemon tree on a property down the street, the owner of which is doing nothing with them. Finally, a few weeks ago, I talked to a dude cutting the grass on the property, and he told me that his mom, the owner, is home.

“Ma’am, I’m a neighbor up the street; may I pay you for some lemons off your tree?”

(Here’s the punch, like she’d been dealing with a produce buyer from Safeway,) “Three dollars a bag, and DON’T GO HAYWIRE WITH THE BAG.”

Thanks, neighbor. (And strictly FYI, Target bags are bigger than Safeway bags.)

Speaking of Safeway and neighbors who drive one to drink, Kath and I tried an inexpensive Cline bottling available at a lot of supermarkets around here. Oakley fiveREDS retails for about seven bucks. It’s a blend of red varietals harvested from Cline’s extensive Oakley properties/contacts. The blend and grape sources vary year-to-year (the Wild, Wild West-like label is pretty sparse on specifics), but the 2007 exhibits a nice ripe plum color, and a nose of pomegranate and stone fruit. There are lots of bright berry flavors and some nice bracing acidity on a medium-length finish. Be great with food, or as a quaff after an hour of picking lemons.