By Early July. The week after Tommy. The house is quiet. The plum window opened — the early plums are coming. Hannah and I have been working the window the way we always work it. Some fresh, some dried, some in the fermentation crocks for vinegar.
Jesse turns fifty-five next week. The age. Two years past Danny. Five years from sixty. The number is a number. The body is a body that can do most of what it could do at fifty. The mind is the mind. The land is the land.
I wrote a few notes Sunday morning about what I want for the next decade. Not a plan. Notes. The food forest expansion. The teaching kitchen — a space at the property where Hannah and I could host occasional cooking workshops, a thing we've been talking about for two years. The grandkids. Tommy at sixteen. Maybe more grandchildren if Luna or River have kids. The land grows around us. The fire pit is the fire pit. The fire is still burning.
Caleb and Miriam Saturday. They came for dinner. We sat on the porch. Caleb said: I'm thinking about the house thing. I said: tell me. He said: there's a small place outside Tahlequah. Two bedroom. One acre. Old but solid. He said: I want to look at it. I said: when. He said: this weekend coming. I said: tell me what you find. He said: I will. Hannah and Miriam talked about it. The four of us at the table. Caleb is going to be a homeowner. He has not been a homeowner since 2002. The arc.
Caleb and Miriam came Saturday, and the plums were still on my mind — the harvest, the fermentation crocks, the particular way early July smells when stone fruit is running. We sat on the porch and talked about houses and decades and the arc of things, and what the moment needed wasn’t wine or something fussy — it needed something cold and a little celebratory and made from fruit, the way this land keeps insisting we celebrate with fruit. The apricot brandy slush was already in the freezer from a batch Hannah had put up, and we poured it out into glasses as the sun went down, and that was right.
Apricot Brandy Slush
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes (plus 8 hours freezing) | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 can (12 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
- 1 can (12 oz) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 1 cup apricot brandy
- 3 cups apricot nectar
- 1 liter lemon-lime soda, chilled (for serving)
- Fresh apricot slices or mint sprigs, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Make the simple syrup. Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is fully dissolved, about 5–7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
- Mix the base. In a large freezer-safe container or bowl, stir together the cooled syrup, lemonade concentrate, orange juice concentrate, apricot brandy, and apricot nectar until fully combined.
- Freeze. Cover and freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight, until the mixture is firmly slushy. It will not freeze solid due to the alcohol — it should have a soft, granular texture.
- Serve. Scoop the frozen slush into glasses, filling each about two-thirds full. Top each glass with a splash of chilled lemon-lime soda and stir gently to combine.
- Garnish and enjoy. Add a fresh apricot slice or sprig of mint if desired. Serve immediately on the porch with people you love.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 15mg