Recent E-mail Conversation with Sis

Datya: When a recipe calls for lemon zest, what exactly does that mean?

Katya: The colored part of the peel. You use a little grater.

Datya: Are you laughing at me? :-) Anyway, for some reason all the stuff I want to cook lately calls for it.

Datya (again): But, when it says zest of two lemons, isn't that a whole lot of zest? I mean, the skins are pretty thick. Or when you say "colored" part (or "lemon of color" to be more politically correct), are you implying that only the top part of the skin is of color?

Katya: This e-mail made me cry from laughing so hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I can't control myself. Only the top part of the skin is of color. It's a real thin layer. I find zesting to be very tedious.

Yes, folks, these are the kinds of conversations the Datya and I have over e-mail. I'd say this is a pretty good representation of most of our conversations. I save gems like this one and read them over and over again when I need a good laugh. ;-)