Wrong order turns out to be an unexpected gift

I love to shop locally. It's nice to be able to go to a nearby town/city and pick up exactly what is on my list. Too bad I can't always do that.

I wasn't supposed to drive one-handed when I had my broken hand. I had to ask for help to get to my doctor's appointments. It didn't seem right to bother someone just because I had a craving for something special to eat.

When I was in this kind of quandary I headed to the Internet and started searching for solutions. That's exactly what I did when I had a craving for lemon curd.

After a few clicks, I found what I wanted, lemon curd and while I was searching for that tart mixture, I also came across orange marmalade. I ordered both, knowing they would soon be arriving at my mailbox, and I wouldn't have to bother anyone.

When the smallish box arrived with two bubble-wrapped jars inside, I felt like a kid opening a birthday gift—of course, this gift I bought myself.

I immediately brought cream cheese from the refrigerator and popped bread into the toaster. A tasty lunch was almost on the table.

As I picked up the jar of lemon curd, I looked closely at the label. I hadn't ordered lemon curd. The label said I had lime curd. Oh no! Lime wasn't one of my favorite flavors.

Okay, I’d eat my toast with the orange marmalade instead. But when I looked closely at that jar, it wasn't orange marmalade. I had purchased a mixture: orange, tangerine, and lemon marmalade.

I hadn't made one mistake with my order. I had made two.

Crestfallen, I decided to open both jars and see if I liked either—if not, I would find someone who did.

When my toast popped up, I spread the pieces with the cream cheese. A dollop of the lime curd went on one slice and the mixture onto the other. To my surprise, they both tasted great. It turned out I hadn't made mistakes after all. I had given myself two unexpected gifts.

Eventually, I did get my lemon curd and you know what? I like the lime curd better.

Later, as I watched a cooking show, I found out that I should be able to make my own lemon curd. There are only five ingredients: three eggs, 1 cup of sugar, ½ cup of lemon juice (about 2 lemons), ¼ cup of cubed butter, and 1 tablespoon of lemon zest.

The cook whisked the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice over medium heat until blended. The butter and zest were added. The cook made sure to keep mixing so that the curd wouldn't burn. Soon the mixture thickened. It was scraped into a bowl to cool and then refrigerated.

Now this is the kind of recipe I can handle. It's not too large a batch, just enough for one person. I haven't made my own curd, yet, but I intend to soon. I’m hoping this could be adapted to make lime curd, too. Fingers crossed.

I checked out some orange marmalade recipes. Those seem a bit different. I’m wondering if the lemon curd recipe would be transferable to oranges.

It's too hot to cook any kind of curd right now, but all this has me thinking about what I will be mixing up next.

Susan Manzke, Sunnybook Farm, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; [email protected]; [email protected]; www.susanmanzke.net/blog.