Limoncello!

Have you seen Under the Tuscan Sun where Diane Lane's character goes on a motorcycle ride with a handsome Italian to his little restaurant on the beach and he explains to her how to make limoncello, a delicious refreshing lemon flavored drink? If not, don't worry, I have the directions for you right here.

Ingredients:
You'll need a bunch of lemons, somewhere around 15. Sometimes lemons are kind of small so you'll want 15 medium sized lemons or more of the smaller ones.
1 fifth of grain alcohol (everclear)
4 1/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar

Peel the lemons with a vegetable peeler. You only want the yellow parts so if you get any of the pith (the white part under the yellow) cut it off with a paring knife or it will impart bitterness to your drink.

Put them in a jar and add the alcohol. Let it sit for a month, shake it once or twice a week.

When 30 days has passed, put a coffee filter over the top of the jar and drain the alcohol into a bowl. We don't drink coffee so I didn't have a coffee filter and tried to use muslin instead. That was a complete failure so I ended up straining it. Just be sure to get everything out of the liquid.

Heat the water and sugar on the stove until the sugar dissolves and then let it cool. Add the sugar water mixture to the alcohol. It will immediately change color and become a very pretty light yellow.

Pour into two bottles (or more if you have small leftover wine bottles or something). I used one I had from Ikea and the bottle from the everclear.

Put in the freezer (it won't freeze) or store in a dark place. Serve cold on a warm summer night in a cordial glass or other small glass.

The best part about this recipe is, after you peel 15 lemons, you have 15 lemons you can juice to make some awesome lemonade. This is the recipe that I love. The key is mixing the water and sugar on the stove and having the sugar dissolve 100%. Then I added some fresh strawberries and Jake drank it all within two days. The best!

I've linked up at FTLOB for Thirsty Thursday.