Saturday, January 23, 2010

a memory of our trip to Florence, Italy

It was June 2004 ... my hero-of-a-hubby had taken us to Florence, Italy for our (slightly delayed) honeymoon. One night after dinner, as we prepared to walk back out into the cobble stone alley from whence we came (our restaurant, a hole in the wall that the locals frequented), we paid our dinner bill and were handed 2 frosty shot glasses!

"What is this?" I asked? It was beautiful, and I was intrigued. The cameriere (waiter) replied: "Limoncello" and he lifted it to my mouth and handed it to me. We drank it ... and we enjoyed it. He explained, in his best english, that it is italian tradition to enjoy a quick, cold shot of limoncello after dinner. When in Florence... who were we to argue?!



When we returned home I was giddy to find it on the shelves of the local Trader Joe's. I introduced it to my best girlfriend Debbie... and when we get together at my house to catch up, it's tradition... we start it off with a shot of limoncello.

I keep my bottle in the freezer at all times... it's happy to wait right there for
me...



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

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5 comments:

  1. PauletteJanuary 22, 2010 at 8:56 AM

    The year my son Mark returned from Europe, he made limoncello for Christmas gifts.

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  2. LoriJanuary 22, 2010 at 3:18 PM

    He MADE his own limoncello?! I'm definitely going to have to try that sometime... I should work on my patience prior to that, I guess!

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  3. PauletteJanuary 23, 2010 at 7:47 PM

    Making it took forever. He bought a huge mason jar from the feed store; got a deal on vodka at BevMo and befriended a couple with a lemon tree. It got better as it aged and was repeatedly strained...not sure he would do it again...you gotta be in the mood for that sort of thing.

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  4. NancyJanuary 26, 2010 at 1:21 PM

    Why do you keep it in the freezer? Liqors keep at room temp. Do you thaw to drink? Or you want a limoncello slushie??

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  5. LoriJanuary 26, 2010 at 4:35 PM

    Great question, Nancy! I first consumed this served in a chilled shot glass, served very cold... and so I keep the bottle in the freezer. And the elevated alcohol content keeps the fluid from even getting slushy. It's just super cold! Yummy...

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