The kumquats are coming! The kumquats are coming!

I have finally finished grading at least 4,092 papers (at least it feels that way) and I have submitted 21 grades. This came with some fear and trepidation. For some reason, I'm terrified my finicky students are going to contest their grades. On the other hand, I'm afraid the head of the program will complain that my grades are too high. I didn't have one D! (The director feels that there should be a sprinkling of Ds in all final grade reports.)

So, rather than let the remainder of my break be plagued by these fears, I decided to take a recipe from the smitten kitchen (I belive it's just smittenkitchen.com) and make a "Spring stew" which is basically artichoke, lemon, pancetta, onion, and a few other small ingredients like that.

I went to Trader Joe's and was on my way to the pancetta when--oh my! What are those? Those little orange delights? What were they, reader? They were kumquats!

For awhile I have been wanting to try this odd fruit.

"Are you sure you eat the skins?" I would ask my friend skeptically at the Farmer's Market.

"Yes, yes. You roll the kumquat in your hands to release the odors and such, and then you eat it!" she informed me, probably feeling very superior in her kumquat knowledge.

So I bought some! They say Spring! They say Summer is on the way! They say Sprunger! (Ok, now you can tell I've graded papers for two days straight.) They are so brilliantly orange and oval shaped and bite sized and perfect.

Anyway, go out and try some, readers! They're so delightful and it feels so wrong to eat the skin!