The Impulsive Kitchen

Next Saturday, we are having a birthday party for a dear friend of ours that is turning 40...she actually turned 40 yesterday, but this weekend is Easter, so everyone had too much to do to schedule it this weekend. The gal's name is Suzanne and she currently works for the State Dept. She made up the guest list and my and my pastor's wife, whom I refer to as Saint Cheryl of Shirlington.  It's going to be about 35 to 45 people...the largest party I have ever thrown. I am going to do a signature cocktail that is based on her with her experiences.  She's fluent in Russian, and spent nearly a year in the former Soviet republic Tajikistan...so of course I am calling it the Suzann-istan. I bought 1.5 liters of 100 proof vodka and placed it in 2 Mason jars, I added dried apricots and 1/2 a vanilla bean, and closed them and set them in a window sill, they are a light orange color right now so something is infusing. I read where pomegranates are a big crop in Tajikist...

The Corpse Reviver #2 Ingrediants: 1 oz Gin 1 oz Cointreau 1 oz Lillet Blanc 1 oz fresh Lemon Juice 1-2 drops of Absinthe, Pernod or Herbsaint Place all ingredients in a coctail shaker filled with ice and shake for 20 seconds.  Serve without a garnish. The Corpse Reviver #2 (there were apparently several of them), is an old pre-Prohibition cocktail.  There's a warning in an early 20th century bartender guide, that 4 of these imbibed in rapid succession will "un-revive" the corpse.  It was a hair-of-the-dog coctail, must like a Side Car.  I'd read about it for years and decided to give it a whirl on Sunday afternoon, before dinner.   It is essentially a classic Sour recipe, and packs a BIG citrusy punch with the Cointreau and lemon juice. Lillet Blanc is a fortified wine, like a vermouth, from France that is famously an ingredient in James Bond's lethal Vesper Martini.  Lillet Blanc has a bittersweet, syrupy citrusy quality.  ...