Almond Lemon-Limeade

A Joke

A very wealthy lawyer retreated for several weeks each year to his summer home in the backwoods of Maine. Every summer, he would invite one friend or another to stay with him there for a week or two. One summer he invited a Czechoslovakian friend to visit him. The friend, happy to get anything free from a lawyer, eagerly agreed. When the time came, they spent a wonderful time, getting up early every morning and enjoying the great outdoors.

One morning, as the lawyer and his Czechoslovakian friend were picking raspberries and blueberries for their breakfast, they were approached by two huge bears~~a male and a female. The lawyer noticed them in time to run for cover. His friend, however, was not so lucky. The male bear reached him and swallowed him whole. Seeing this, the lawyer ran back to his Mercedes and raced for the nearest town to get the local sheriff.

The sheriff grabbed his high~powered rifle and raced back to the berry area with the lawyer. All the while, he was plagued by visions of lawsuit from his friend's family. He just had to save his friend. Luckily, the bears were still there. "He's in THAT one!" cried the lawyer, pointing to the male. The sheriff looked at the bears, leveled his gun, took careful aim, and shot the female. "What did you do that for?!" exclaimed the lawyer, "I said he was in the other bear!" "Exactly," replied the sheriff. "Would you believe a lawyer who told you that the Czech was in the male?"

The Recipe

Almond Lemon-Limeade

3 / 4 cup sugar

1 / 4 cup honey

4 to 5 cups filtered water

1 cup lemon and lime juice. (Approximately 2 each)

lemon and lime slices

1 / 4 tsp almond extract

Start by making simple syrup. Heat the sugar, honey and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan until the syrup goes clear and the sugar is dissolved. Cool completely and add almond extract, lemon and limes slices and the juice. Refrigerate.

When ready to serve, dilute by adding the remaining 3 to 4 cups of cold water and ice.

My Thoughts

Nothing says summer better then lemonade. This is a nice twist to a classic. The addition of lime gives an additional punch of flavor and color, while the honey and almond round out the tartness with some earthy undertones.

As syrup, this will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. Anything that can be made ahead of time is all right in my book.

If you are serving at a party and it may sit out for a while, make another batch ahead of time and freeze into ice cups. This will stop it from getting watered down from the ice melting. Watered down lemonade is the worst! Or, drop one into a gin and tonic. Very, very nice.