Lemon Cake, Lemon Bars, and Love

The doorbell rang a Sunday or two ago. I opened it to find our new neighbors smiling, wearing white linen, and holding a plate of lemon bars.

We’d been told we had inherited the dream neighbors – which was welcome, since we adored our previous neighbors, too. (Tom and Lou: Xoxo.) We’d also been told how much our neighbors loved Betty and Bunny — and so I already loved them back.

Love Bunny = Love me.

The lemon bars were diabolically good, and they came with a large bag of lemons from our neighbors’ tree. The next Sunday, I turned those lemons into cake to take to our friends’ house for dinner, and to share with our new neighbors, who made us feel so welcome and good.

Find the lemon yogurt cake recipe here. I always double it and tuck an extra cake into the freezer for “emergencies,” like when company comes over, or a sweet tooth strikes on a Wednesday night. It tastes really good while frozen. Oink.

My favorite lemon bar recipe is here — and I also suspect it was the one used by my neighbor, because I can tell she’s an Ina Garten kind of girl.

Meanwhile, what’s your favorite lemon recipe? There are lemons everywhere in our new neighborhood and I want them to have happy fates.