Lemons & Lemon Tea recipe

• 1 black tea bag (any type such as Earl Grey, English Breakfast, etc.)
• 1 lemon

1. Put the tea bag into a favorite mug.
2. Pour hot water into the mug.
3. Cut the lemon in half.
4. Thinly slice one piece of lemon and put it into the mug.
5. Squeeze half of the lemon juice into the mug.  Adjust for personal preference for the amount of lemon juice.

Math Teacher likes lemon tea. Actually, he only likes the lemon; the tea is a complement. He likes the lemon so much that sometimes I think he's drinking hot lemon water.

Anyway, I've been squeezing lemon juice and making lemon tea for years now.  My skin, especially the cuticles, used to crack due to dry air in winter.  This year I finally noticed that, while squeezing lemon juice, my fingers don't hurt.

A lot of skin moisturizing products claim citrus oil as an ingredient.

It's the lemons that protect my skin from cracking in the winter!  It doesn't work as fast as commercial products; in fact, it probably took at least a year for me to notice the difference.  But, it's the lemons!  The simple, delicious lemon that I mindlessly squeeze the juice into a tea mug.

So now, I make lemon tea for Math Teacher all the time.  It's not because I love him or anything.  It's because I want to protect my skin!

What do I do after the lemon juice is all squeezed out?  I use an electric tea kettle to boil water to make tea.  So I throw the used lemon into the tea ketle, add water, boil, and let it sit overnight.  Next day I dump the lemon and the water into the sink.  No water stain in the tea ketle!

It's important to use the entire lemon, the skin, the pith, and the pulps. All three together clean the kettle.  Several times I used only the pith and the pulps because I grated the skin off to cook pasta.  It worked but not quite as effective as all three parts.

Vinegar also doesn't work.  I tried it in my previous kettle, but vinegar did not clean the water stain off.

Leaving the lemon in the hot water for only one hour doesn't work either.  Overnight is the key.

In addition to clean the electric kettle with used lemons, I also clean the electric steamer with the used lemons.  See the previous post for my amazement to lemon cleaning the steamer.

What do I do after the lemons are boiled and dumped into the sink?  I pushed the lemons down into the garbage disposal and grind them up.  The whole sink smells so lemony!  I'm hoping the lemons will also clean the garbage disposal a bit.  I've heard lemons don't quite work; I still need actual chemicals to clean the disposal.  However, I'm currently in a rental apartment.  I don't care how clean the garbage disposal is as long as I maintain it well enough and it works for the short duration I'm here.

In conclusion, here's my admiration for one simple lemon.  It flavors the tea; protects my skin; cleans the electric kettle and electric steamer; and disinfects the garbage disposal.  It is small yet powerful.  I can use every part of it from beginning to the end.  No waste.

All Hail the Mighty Lemon!

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