Sunken Dreams
My grandparents lived on a lake in New Hampshire. Every summer as a kid, I’d be in that lake daily until my chattering teeth and pruney fingers finally forced me out. But not until my friends and I swam out to the refrigerator. Half-buried in the bottom muck, it glowed like a radioactive inchworm. One big deep breath was all you needed to dive down to touch it (the standing double-dog dare) and scramble back to the surface, kicking furiously at the imagined lake monsters nipping at your toes. Rumor had it that some neighbors had an ice-skating party one winter, slid the fridge onto the frozen lake to hold their beverages, then never bothered to slide it back. Come spring, it plunged to its now-forever home.
Makes 1 drink
- 1 ½ ounces homemade fennel-cardamom liqueur (see below)
- 1 ounce dry vermouth (I’ve been using the recipe from here– so good!)
- ½ ounce fresh lemon juice
- ½ ounce orgeat
- Ice
- Big ice cube
Add the fennel-cardamom liqueur, dry vermouth, lemon juice, and orgeat to a shaker. Add ice and shake to chill. Strain over a big ice cube into a rocks glass.
Garnish: lemon peel
Fennel-Cardamom Liqueur: Cover 1 cup of fennel fronds and 5 cracked cardamom pods with 1 ¼ cups vodka in a lidded jar. Leave in a dark spot for 2 weeks. Strain into a small jar. Stir in 6 tablespoons of simple syrup.
