On Limoncello

It's the stuff that Danny DeVito was still drunk on when he visited the view. He also makes the stuff himself:

Thick and yellow, sweet and lemony, strong and flammable, the stuff is great, in small doses, and pretty easy to make. John has a skill for it.

After Memorial Day, he sat on the floor, grated 20 lemons and an orange into an canister and then poured in a bottle of Everclear on top. We let it steep for 2 weeks, until the yellow was stripped off of the zest and the lemony smell coming off the alcohol burned our noses a little. No worries; the burn is alleviated by the addition of plenty of simple syrup. Here, the recipes differ (John mostly followed this one from Serious Eats, but minus the flavored vodka) - some suggest bottling (which we did, in old liquor and wine bottles - ecofriendly!) and freezing, and some suggest letting it steep a bit longer. So, we poured a little into a mason jar (yep) and let it go for a while. We've not tried that yet.



Cool limoncello in a cordial is just the thing. A small little shot, just for sipping - we advised people at a dinner party we held in honor of the limoncello to NOT shoot it - goes a long way. While John can handle a couple of cordials worth, I take so long to drink and it's so strong that I can only really drink one in a sitting.

Limoncello isn't difficult to make, and there are tons of recipes out there (I have one in a Giada de Laurentiis cookbook that calls for lemon peels and vodka). There's a lot of fun in making your own digestive. While we don't have the space or the expertise of my friend Brian, who brews his own delicious beer and has for years, it's exciting to be able to whip up something so potent and tasty. It's a great summer activity and a perfect summer drink. And it's nice to have that - something that you enjoy, that's lighthearted and fun.

So long as no one's going on TV still drunk after leaving my house.