The striver promises to give it his all. More: 110 percent. He pledges himself to effort. More: to redouble that effort. Leading us off-message, distracted by brawny syntax.
Redo means do, twice. Review means view, twice. Redouble means double, once.
This undercount is unfair. It’s a rebuff of “re.” It’s a wrong we vow to right. We are printing up double-sided placards in support of a quadruple-strength redouble. We plan to hoist them at the next convention of the Modern Language Association.
Should that campaign fail, we’ll focus on local change — like doubling up on double-strength lemon mousse. A bowl of sunny citrus folded into soft cream bolsters household approval ratings — fourfold.
Lemon Mousse
6 lemons (approximately)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 eggs
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Fresh berries
Squeeze: Zest 2 lemons into a large heavy saucepan. Squeeze all lemons and measure out 3/4 cup juice; pour into the pan. Whisk in 3/4 cup sugar, the eggs and butter.
Thicken: Set pan over medium heat and whisk until thick, 5-6 minutes. Press this tart lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
Chill: Let cool. Cover and chill.
Whip: Use an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a handheld whisk and muscle) to whip cream, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and the vanilla to sturdy peaks. Pour in chilled lemon curd and whip briefly to combine.
Serve: This pale yellow mousse is lovely heaped into small glass bowls and topped with fresh berries. For spring holidays, I like to pile the mousse into a 2-quart glass jar, stuff the remaining space with yellow Peeps, and seal. But hey, that’s me. Serves: 8
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