When I was growing up, there was always a big bag of lemons in the fridge. I used to cut them in half, put them facedown in a
saucer filled with white sugar, microwave them, then lick and dip the
warm, sugary lemon halves over and over until the saucer was empty.
These days, I live for the moment when, in a restaurant, I take a sip
out of an ordinary-looking glass of water and realize there’s lemon in
it—no slice, just the faint, unmistakable whisper of it.
I love lemons and always keep them on hand. For the last month, my
local co-op/corner grocery store, Madison Market, has been out of
lemons. They even resorted to placing those yellow plastic ReaLemon
juice containers next to the limes in the produce section; it’s been a
long, cruel summer. Though other grocery stores have had lemons all
month, I abstained from buying them (even resisting those adorable baby
lemons that are only four for $1 at QFC). While I have no particular
commitment to organic produce, it seemed so ridiculous and wrong that
the Market couldn’t get them, so I wanted to support them. (My
suspicious mind couldn’t help but think that my little co-op was
somehow losing lemons to some giant, greedy organic grocer.) I recently
learned—thank you, Slog readers!—that, due to a harsh
freeze, lemon crops in California and Arizona were destroyed, causing a
lemon shortage, and that Madison Market was unable to obtain lemons
that were up to their standards.
I can talk about this all now because, thankfully, the lemons are
back. 
