A Little Sunshine in a Glass
By Dr. Juris Bunkis, Medical Director, Orange County Plastic Surgery Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia
This past weekend felt like a preview of spring here in beautiful Orange County. The temperature hovered around 80 degrees, the sun was shining, flowers were blooming, and the bees seemed downright jubilant. Like many of you, we took advantage of the glorious weather to catch up on a few overdue tasks in our vegetable garden. That’s when we noticed something we had been ignoring for weeks: our lemon tree branches were sagging under the weight of ripe, vibrant yellow lemons.
We use lemons all the time—on fish, in lemonade, and in countless recipes that call for “just a squeeze” of juice, half a lemon, or a bit of zest. But lemons have such a powerful flavor that most recipes barely make a dent in a full harvest. Years ago, I discovered a wonderful solution for using up a large quantity of lemons: making limoncello.
The recipe came from my flight instructor at the time, Peter Villano, whose family hailed from southern Italy. Over the years, I’ve modified Peter’s original recipe—mainly because I couldn’t get past the very large amount of sugar it required. Limoncello is wonderfully simple, with just a few ingredients, but it does demand meticulous attention to detail.
The rinds of 7–10 organic lemons (depending on size) are carefully peeled and mixed with 750 ml of 190-proof grain alcohol, such as Everclear®. It’s critical to avoid including any of the white pith beneath the yellow rind, as that will make the final product bitter. Seal the container and let it sit for two to four weeks, allowing the alcohol to extract the aromatic oils from the lemon zest.
At that point, the original recipe called for mixing three cups of white sugar with 750 cc of water, heating it until the sugar dissolves, removing the rinds, and combining the lemon-infused alcohol with the syrup. Yes, it was tasty—but I couldn’t stop thinking about how much sugar was in every sip. I decided to substitute a zero-calorie, plant-based sweetener: stevia. To my surprise, the result was just as sweet and flavorful. I have never gone back to the original recipe—and I actually prefer my version to most commercially available limoncellos. The same process works beautifully with oranges, producing a delightful orangecello.
I’ve been visiting Italy frequently since the early 1990s and have always been offered limoncello by hosts in Capri, Sorrento, and along the Amalfi Coast. Bottles are sold everywhere in the region. Researching the history of limoncello, I expected to find that this recipe has been around since Roman times. Yet I was surprised to learn that limoncello is relatively young—it was first produced in the early 1900s and didn’t enter commercial production until 1988, when Massimo Canale of Capri trademarked “Limoncello di Capri.” It still boggles my mind that limoncello is newer than Coca-Cola.
True limoncello is a vibrant aperitif, naturally bright yellow, intensely aromatic, and perfectly balanced between a zesty alcoholic bite and satisfying sweetness. Keep a bottle in the freezer—it won’t freeze—and enjoy a refreshing sip whenever the mood strikes.
So the next time your lemon tree is overflowing, why not turn a bit of sunshine into limoncello?
Our lemon trees before the harvest.
After a harvest.
My flight instructor, the late Peter Villano, hamming it up with a Sorrento lemon during a trip we took to Positano, Italy, in 2008.
Flight school with my instructor, the late Peter Villano, in Florida in 2000.
Liposuction – Not as Simple as it Looks
By Dr. Deborah Ekstrom
Orange County Plastic Surgery, Corona del Mar/Newport Beach
Quiz Of The Day
What is the single most important factor in achieving a smooth, natural-looking liposuction result?
A. Removing as much fat as possible
B. Using the smallest cannula available
C. Aggressive suctioning for speed
D. Removing the right amount of fat, evenly and thoughtfully
E. Wearing compression garments longer
Correct answer: D
Liposuction is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures in the world—and also one of the most misunderstood. I’ve been performing liposuction in my private practice since the mid-1980s, and over the decades I’ve seen both extraordinary results and very unfortunate ones. Ironically, as the number of liposuction providers has increased, the number of excellent outcomes has not.
At Orange County Plastic Surgery, we are now seeing a growing number of patients who come to us after having liposuction elsewhere and are unhappy with their results. The complaints are strikingly consistent: either too much fat was left behind, resulting in little visible improvement, or too much was removed, leaving dents, ripples, and surface irregularities that are difficult—or sometimes impossible—to fully correct.
To the untrained eye, liposuction looks deceptively simple. After all, how hard could it be? A small incision, a cannula inserted under the skin, a back-and-forth motion, and out comes the fat. This false sense of simplicity is precisely why liposuction has been taken up by many practitioners who are not trained plastic surgeons, including providers without surgical training in contouring the human body.
What truly matters in liposuction is judgment. Knowing how much fat to remove, from exactly where, and in what plane, is the result of years of training and experience. Remove too little and the contour doesn’t change. Remove too much and the skin can collapse irregularly over the remaining tissue.
Modern liposuction techniques—such as the use of tumescent solution, refined cannula designs, and careful multi-plane fat removal—have made the procedure safer and more precise than ever. Tumescent fluid reduces bleeding, improves comfort, and allows for smoother fat removal. Newer cannulas are designed to sculpt rather than gouge, but even the best tools can produce poor results in untrained hands.
Liposuction is not about aggressive suctioning; it is about balance, symmetry, and respect for the skin’s ability to retract. This is especially critical in areas like the abdomen, thighs, arms, and back—where surface irregularities are most noticeable.
Your body deserves expertise, not experimentation. When considering liposuction, trust your care to a board-certified plastic surgeon with deep experience in body contouring—because in liposuction, thoroughness and restraint are equally important.
This 27-year-old female disliked her fatty excess over her outer hips, inner thighs and abdominal wall. She was fit and ate well but could not improve these areas with diet and exercise. She sought consultation with renowned body contouring surgeon, Dr. Deborah Ekstrom and is shown here before and after a liposuction procedure of the abdominal wall, outer thighs and inner thighs. (Actual patient of Dr. Deborah Ekstrom of Orange County Plastic Surgery in Corona del Mar/Newport Beach, CA.)
Orange County Plastic Surgery at CosmetiCare
1101 Bayside Drive, Suite 200
Corona del Mar, CA 92625
Take the elevator to the second floor (Suite 200) and check in with the front desk for your consultation or follow-up.
Free Parking Available.
If you want to see if you can have any part of your body improved, contact us for a consultation:
For CA, please call 949-888-9700 or visit www.orangecountyplasticsurgery.com
