I just started two projects: A rushed limoncello and a less rushed Tequila por Mi Amante. Both are concoctions I’ve never had the pleasure of making myself, nor even tasting for that matter. Limoncello is an Italian liquor based on, you guessed it, of lemons and sugar. Or at least that’s what I’m told. I’ve been seeing it around for a while and wanted to try it out for the fabled Fig Party we knew was coming up sometime. Unfortunately, we didn’t know quite when the party would be, and I waited until we heard, and it’s this Saturday. Decent limoncello seems to take a week minimum, often a bit longer, so we’ll see how this goes. If anyone has any fig-themed cocktail ideas, I’d love to hear them.

To start the Limoncello I removed the peel from 13 oranges (I did a dozen, and then added one more to help speed things up). If you’re trying this at home, be sure to avoid getting any of the white plinth as it theoretically will add bitterness to the drink. I then added vodka to it. I’ve read that 100 proof vodka is the way to go, but I used what was at hand.

The leftover lemons seemed like a shame just to waste, so I ended up squeezing most of them and freezing the juice in an ice cube tray. I have some doubts as to when or if those will actually be used, but Christy suggested it and this seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps throw a cube in a glass of iced tea? My family are huge fans of half lemonade/half iced tea so perhaps my parents will use them when there here in a couple of weeks.

The limoncello should steep for a week, but as it is it will sit for a few days and then I’ll add a good bit of simple syrup and chill before the party. It’s pretty simple, and at least this version will give me something to compare to if I feel the need to peel another dozen lemons and try this again sometime.

As far as that red jar; I first heard about Tequila por mi Amante from the Cocktail Chronicles’ post. It’s basically just tequila that sits in a pile of strawberries for a month. Simple and delightful sounding. Unfortunately, mi amante is on some high-powered drugs at the moment, so the tequila will probably be more for me than for her. That being said, I’m really excited to see how it turns out. I ended up slicing the red parts off a bunch of strawberries and discarding the inside white (meh, store bought strawberries). Hopefully this will compensate for them not being picked fresh out of someone’s garden. Once the TpMI is done steeping, it should be ready to serve as is!