Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook Part 4

*RAZZLE DAZZLE CHAMPAGNE c.o.c.kTAIL.

red decorator sugar

one lime, or one lemon

one small bottle of Chambord (raspberry liqueur)

one bottle of good champagne, chilled4

red maraschino cherries with stems (optional to decorate)

champagne flutes

one shallow, flat-bottomed dish that's an inch or two wider

than the top of the champagne flutes

Pour approximately a quarter-inch layer of red decorator sugar in the flat-bottomed dish.

Cut a lime or lemon into pieces and run the cut part around the rim of a champagne gla.s.s. The object is to wet the rim with the citrus juice.

Hannah's 1st Note: Hank Olsen down at the Lake Eden Munic.i.p.al Liquor Store told me that real bartenders use Rose's Lime Juice to wet the rim of a gla.s.s before they sugar it for sweet drinks.

Turn the champagne gla.s.s upside down and dunk the rim into the dish of red sugar. Roll it around until sugar adheres all around the outside of the rim. Do this for all of the champagne gla.s.ses. This is a step that can be done in advance.

When you're ready to a.s.semble the c.o.c.ktails, pour inch of Chambord in the bottom of your champagne flute. Then carefully fill the champagne gla.s.ses with champagne. You'll have to pour slowly because champagne can foam up very quickly. (There's a reason some people call it "bubbly" instead of "champagne".) There's no need to stir (and you don't want to break down those pretty bubbles anyway) because this drink will mix itself.

Top off your creation with a maraschino cherry if you wish. A fresh, plump raspberry speared with a little c.o.c.ktail pick would also be nice if raspberries are in season.

Hannah's 2nd Note: To make a non-alcoholic version of this drink, follow the directions for Razzle Dazzle Faux Champagne c.o.c.ktail.

*RAZZLE DAZZLE FAUX CHAMPAGNE c.o.c.kTAIL.

red decorator sugar

one lime, or one lemon

one large bottle of sparkling apple-raspberry juice, chilled5

red maraschino cherries with stems (optional to decorate)

champagne flutes

one shallow, flat-bottomed dish that's an inch or two wider

than the top of the champagne flutes

Pour approximately a quarter-inch layer of red decorator sugar in the flat-bottomed dish.

Cut a lime or lemon into pieces and run the cut part around the rim of a champagne gla.s.s. The object is to wet the rim with the citrus juice so that the sugar will stick to the rim.

Hannah's 1st Note: You could also use Rose's Lime Juice to wet the rim of the gla.s.s. Just pour it on a paper towel and wipe the rim.

Turn the champagne gla.s.s upside down and dunk the rim into the dish of red sugar. Roll it around until sugar adheres all around the outside of the rim. Do this for all of the champagne gla.s.ses. This is a step that can be done in advance.

When you're ready to a.s.semble the faux c.o.c.ktails, carefully fill the champagne gla.s.ses with sparkling apple-raspberry juice. You'll have to pour slowly so that it won't foam up and melt the red sugar you've put around the rims.

Top off your creation with a maraschino cherry if you wish. A fresh plump raspberry speared with a little c.o.c.ktail pick would also be nice if raspberries are in season.

Hannah's 2nd Note: Kids just love these. Andrea and I both think it's because they're served in a "grownup" champagne gla.s.s.

"This c.o.c.ktail is wonderful!" Carrie declared, turning to Hannah. "Could I please have another?"

"Better be careful, Carrie," Delores smiled to show she was teasing her best friend. "You know what happened to Winnie Henderson the night she had too much dandelion wine, don't you?"

Carrie looked puzzled. "But Winnie doesn't drink. I offered her a gla.s.s of wine when we had lunch at the Lake Eden Inn last week and she told me that."

"She doesn't drink... now," Delores gave a little chuckle. "Actually, she didn't drink then. And that was part of the problem. Poor Winnie was just following Doc's orders."

"Doc Knight told Winnie to drink?" It was obvious that Carrie was still confused.

"Not exactly, but Winnie came to see him because she was having trouble sleeping."

"That was over twenty years ago," Grandma Knudson explained, "when Winnie was married to that awful third husband of hers, the one who sold aluminum siding and was gone for weeks at a time."

"Right," Delores took up the story again. "Winnie told Doc that she just couldn't fall asleep. And if she did, she startled awake after only a couple of minutes. Doc could see that she was at her wit's end and he suggested a mild form of sleeping pill. But Winnie didn't want that, so Doc told her to drink a jigger of brandy right before bedtime and that would do the trick."

"That would work," Marge Beeseman agreed. "Jack sleeps better if he has a little blackberry brandy before bedtime."

There were several nods around the table and then Delores went on. "Well, Winnie was a complete nondrinker. She had no idea how big a jigger was. But her second husband used to drink Jack Daniel's in a water gla.s.s so she figured that was probably what Doc meant."

"Oh, good heavens!" Florence, who was still wearing her Red Owl Grocery nametag gave a little groan. "Poor Winnie must have been as drunk as a skunk."

"Oh, she was. A few minutes after she drank it, her head started to spin and she decided that she needed some air. She made it all the way down her driveway and almost out to the country road. But then she decided it was time to take a little nap. and she stretched out right there at the foot of her driveway."

"Poor Winnie!" Ellie Kuehne gave a little shiver. She'd taken the afternoon off from her managerial duties at Bertanelli's Pizza, and she looked happy to have some free time. "Did she have a terrible hangover?"

"Yes, but she was already in the hospital. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. There Winnie is, stretched out on her gravel driveway, so drunk she's not moving a muscle, and a car comes along. The driver's a lady who's visiting someone down the road. She gets out to see what's wrong and she can't rouse Winnie, so she rushes back home and calls for an ambulance."

"So Doc sent the paramedics out to get Winnie?" Carrie guessed.

"Not exactly. Doc didn't have his own ambulance back then. He contracted with Digger to use the hea.r.s.e as an ambulance. It worked just fine. Digger took down the Gibson Funeral Home signs, removed the velvet curtains on the windows in the back, and put a gurney in the place where the casket would be. He even had a light like the deputies have on their squad cars that attached to the roof of the hea.r.s.e with a suction cup."

"So Digger went out to pick Winnie up?" Carrie leaned forward slightly, waiting for the answer to her question.

"Actually... Digger wasn't home, but he'd arranged with Cyril Murphy to take any ambulance calls that came in. Brigit answered the phone and rather than bother Cyril, who was working late at the garage, she called. . ."

"Me," Alice Vogel interrupted, and Hannah, who was watching from the pa.s.s-through window in the community center kitchen, noticed that Alice was blushing with embarra.s.sment. "I was living back at home after my divorce, and I told Brigit I'd be right over to help her."

"So Brigit and Alice went out in Digger's ambulance," Delores continued. "Except they never even thought to take down the Gibson Funeral Home signs and the curtains."

"We put the gurney in, though." Alice volunteered.

"That's right. Brigit drove and Alice rode next to her in the pa.s.senger seat."

Alice nodded. "The lady who called said she thought that Winnie was dead, so we didn't hurry that much. Brigit seemed okay about going to pick up a. . . a deceased person, but I wasn't exactly comfortable."

"When they got there, Winnie was still pa.s.sed out cold on her driveway. She's not very big, so Brigit and Alice didn't have any trouble loading her on the gurney and lifting it into the back of the ambulance." Delores paused and gave a little smile. "Or perhaps I should say... hea.r.s.e."

"We thought the lady was right and Winnie was dead," Alice said, sounding a bit defensive. "I was okay when we loaded her on the gurney, but after we got in the front again and started driving out to the hospital morgue, I started thinking about how there was a dead person riding in back of me. I kept telling myself that it was the living who could hurt you, not the dead, but I was still really jumpy. I made sure that gla.s.s panel between the front of the hea.r.s.e and the back was shut tight, and that made me feel a little better. And then I asked Brigit to turn on the radio to distract me. Brigit must have been nervous too, because she found a country western station and turned it up really loud. That helped a lot until I heard a screech from the back of the hea.r.s.e."

There were several gasps from the ladies, even though most of them had heard this story before.

"Winnie came to," Carrie breathed, shivering slightly.

Delores gave a little nod. "That's right. Winnie regained consciousness and the first thing she saw was the funeral home sign in the hea.r.s.e window. And the next thing she saw was that the curtains were still up. Winnie's a bright woman. She said, h.e.l.lo? Is anybody there? but the gla.s.s panel was closed and the radio was so loud that Brigit and Alice didn't hear her. Winnie put two and two together, but unfortunately, she came up with the wrong answer. She thought she must be dead, and it scared her so much she screamed."

"So that's why Winnie doesn't drink," Carrie concluded.

"That's right. And that's why Doc never prescribes a jigger of brandy for insomnia. Now he says, "an ounce," or "half an inch in the bottom of a water gla.s.s."

"I never heard that one before," Lisa said to Hannah.

"Maybe your folks thought you were too young. Let's dish up the soup, Lisa. I think they're almost ready."

Lisa headed for the slow cooker sitting on the counter. "Okay. Maybe they'll tell more stories. This is really fun!"

Soups

TRUDI'S SHRIMP BISQUE Hannah's 1st Note: You can also make this bisque with crabmeat, or with a combination of shrimp and crab.