Kumqwhat?

Kumquat.

Kumquats have the kind of kick I need to wake me up in the morning. Well, that and a cup of coffee so strong it can benchpress 180 (is that a lot? I have no idea.) With that in mind I decided to make kumquat marmalade.

The recipe is sosupersimple. Cut up the kumquats in halves or quarters and coax out all those little seeds. Then it's just a 3-1-1 ratio: for every 3 cups of kumquat add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. No gelatin necessary! I used part raw sugar and part white, because that's what I had, but I'm sure either/or would be fine.

Throw it all on a pot with a splash or two of orange juice and then let it boil away over medium-low heat until it's reduced, stirring during commercial breaks or whenever you think of it. It should be thick enough that it'll sit on a piece of bread without spilling off onto your work clothes.

Other than toast I think you could add it to a vinaigrette for salad or even incorporate it into a sauce for pork and it should last a while too, I've had mine in the fridge for a couple of weeks now with no signs of spoilage.

In other news, I bought like a pound of mussels for $3.50! I don't actually know if it was a pound but it was waaay too much for two of us to eat and then I had the rest for dinner the next night. So many mussel recipes to come...