Serving on a jury in college motivated me to pursue a career in the law. No joke, that's not just something I made up for my law school admissions essay. The case was silly, a fender bender that only ended up in court due to a brief period of uncertainty around CA auto insurance recovery rules following
Prop 213. The trial was short. Damages low. Nonetheless, the judge's stirring words about the importance of civic participation resonated with my experience. A comprehensive cross-section of my richly diverse neighborhood reported for duty. From Cal professors to community college students, nurses to engineers, retirees to college kids, and of course the full spread of race, color, and creed that you could hope for.
If my September jury experience had been my first, I probably never would have considered law school. The disrespect shown for people's time by the
San Francisco Superior Court was both astonishing and insulting. In the final equation, I lost more than three days of work for less than seven hours of courtroom time on voir dire for a simple burglary case. A competent court could have seated the jury by the afternoon of Day 1, and maybe even fit in opening statements. That's two days stolen from the lives of 100 members of the Jury pool. Outrageous! And it's no mystery where the inefficiency was -- the judge. He rattled on at
length about how much he respected our service and promised not to waste our time (while wasting it, of course). He let the attorneys ask countless questions of the jurors that were clearly designed to prejudice them to the law and evidence in the case rather than to determine bias. And worst of all, he used maximum 4 hours of the day for courtroom proceedings. On the final day juror call was 9:30, proceedings started at nearly 11, our 90 minute lunch begun promptly at noon, and court ran for twenty minutes after lunch.
I have worked for other courts, and I know there is no reason to run things this way other than incompetence or lack of interest in using the time of jurors efficiently. It's no wonder that so many citizens disregard jury summons when the system they're being asked to participate in has such disrespect for them.
Eating seasonally is one of my favorite parts of living in California. I'm not a big fan of fleeting pleasures, however, which is why I love preserving today's produce for enjoyment tomorrow. With citrus season upon us, it's time to make limoncello (and marmalade, of course, but that's a topic for another day). Six months from now, there will icy, tart, sweet, lemony goodness burning down my throat and reminding me of winter's bounty. For today, zesting. 
I follow, with a few modifications, the recipe from Limoncello Quest, a fantastic blog by a true aficionado. I use Meyer lemons and Everclear 151 (stupid CA laws prevent me from using higher proof juice) -- about 10 lemons per bottle. A microplane would make zesting quicker, but I prefer using a vegetable peeler, because it will make filtration easier later on. Any pith will make the limoncello bitter so I use a vegetable peeler that shaves thin and scrape off with the tip of a paring knife any pith that comes off along with the zest. Into the alcohol go the glistening shavings - all to be stashed on the pantry floor until March, when it will emerge for filtration and addition of simple syrup. 
This year, I'm making a couple of experimental batches too: one with sweet lemons, nearly as fragrant as the Meyers, and one with Buddha's hand. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. 
