National Amaretto Day – update

As promised…

THAT's an Amaretto Sour!

Legend has it that Leonardo Da Vinci and his assistant, Bernardino Luini, were commissioned to do frescos in a church in Saronno, Italy way back when.  The assistant (Luini) needed a model on whom to base his depiction of the Madonna, and selected a beautiful innkeeper (she also happened to be a widow).  They became lovers.  Innkeeper wanted to express her gratitude to Luini (ahem.  Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?), so she steeped some apricot pits in brandy and gave him the result.  Thus was Amaretto born.

I tried to find out more for you by going to the completely irritating DiSaronno website, but got frustrated.  It’s way too interactive for me.  And the random girl walking across the screen every 5 minutes was irritating, too.

And for some reason, no recipe for Amaretto Sour.  WTF?

Most recipes will tell you to add simple syrup to your Amaretto Sour.  Me?  I think the Amaretto is sweet enough.  I like equal parts Amaretto and lemon juice, shaken over ice.

THAT’s an Amaretto Sour.

Cheers!

National Amaretto Day (on Animal Crackers Day)

sour ingredients

2 mea culpas today.  

1. I thought Amaretto Day was today, not tomorrow.  I thought Animal Crackers was tomorrow, not today.  So that’s what you get today. Amaretto.  Tomorrow you can have animal crackers.  Hold your horses.  (Hee – get it?  Animal Crackers?  Hold your horses?  Never mind.)
2. I haven’t had Amaretto yet.  I will, and then I will update this blog.  Hang tight, read on, and I will explain why.

So, Friday was my birthday.  I thought I would just take it easy, have a quiet dinner with Jim, and forget the whole deal.  How wrong I was.  Diana and Anisha decided that plan was definitely not on and put together a whole different plan.  The whole different plan involved lots of wonderfulness, including: 

• a Mexican theme
• Mexican food, planned, prepared and executed by the lovely Alice, who chopped, sliced, diced, cooked, prepared, presented, served, cleared, cleaned and washed dishes all night, suppored by Sean (who chopped – just ask him).  I love you both.
• Ceviche, which Rob prepared.  One of the best ceviches I’ve ever had.  Thank you, Rob!
• A pavlova, for goodness’ sakes!  Also prepared by Rob!  Thank you, Rob!
• Snow cones!  Really! (Thank you, Dave!)
• There were salsa dancing posters on the wall, a pinata, and all sorts of fun fun fun.  Anisha and Diana, it was the best birthday ever!  Thank you!

Many of my dearest friends were able to join us on this unauspicious occasion (I lied about my age) and I felt well and truly celebrated.  I fell asleep (passed out) soundly hugged by George, while Della and Jim looked on (and had a real conversation).  It was that kind of party.

So today, I just couldn’t face an Amaretto Sour. I got the fixins’, but just couldn’t do it. 

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t.

Amaretto Sours are my very favourite celebration of Amaretto.  I just wish I’d remembered it was actually National Animal Cracker Day today, which might have made everything better.

Alas, I didn’t. 

Today, I’m pretty sure I can drink an Amaretto Sour.  So sometime later , I will mix, pour and chat about Amaretto Sours. And tomorrow..

tomorrow…

tomorrow I will tell you all about Animal Crackers. 

Just hang on. 

I’ll be there.

xx Eva