Lambrini's Revenge - the making of a cocktail

Our friends are staying with us on their move back from Gibraltar to Northern Ireland and we have decided to  to throw both a welcome back (for them) and housewarming (for us) party/casual get together.

I very rarely do anything casually so today Sam and I decided that we could make these really cute looking jello shots in lemons and grapefruits to serve.  There were dozens of blogs that showed various shots in fruits with instructions that seemed straightforward and pretty simple.

Step 1:  Halve the citrus fruit of your choice.
Step 2:  Gently scoop out the flesh leaving the rind pristine and tidy
Step 3:  Make jello and add the liquor of your choosing
Step 4:  Pour the jello into the fruit rinds and put in the fridge to set.

They LIED.

Here is how it went down:

Step 1:  Cut the fruit squirting and staining liquid all down your white top.
Step 2:  Mutilate the fruit skins to within an inch of their life trying to scrape off the tiny mutinous pieces of pulp.
Step 3:  Scrape off the skin from the tops of your fingers trying to prize the crap from the carcass.  Sting those scrapes by repeatedly sticking your hand back into the the limpid, lifeless evil shell of a fruit.
Step 4:  Burn your thumbs making jello by pouring boiling hot water into a metal measuring cup which you are holding onto with dear life.
Step 5:  Pour jello into the fruit holds watching it pour out of the bottom because your fingers have broken through the fruit skins leaving holes.
Step 6:  Fling the whole pan into the fridge and pray that it turns out and you haven't sacrificed your fingers and an hour of your time for nothing.

After the jello shots went into the fridge I decided that it would be a shame to waste the gorgeous fresh grapefruit/lemon juice that made it into a bowl.  I thought I would try a juice and vodka combo.  Unfortunately it was: waaaaaaaaay toooooo tart.  I added some sugar.  Still way to tart.  I decided to try adding some Lambrini which I had in the fridge.  If you have never had Lambrini it is a fairly low alcohol content sparkling wine.  Getting the twist off cap removed turned out a bit more of a burden than I thought and I actually punctured my thumb on the beasty bottle, which is still bleeding down my keyboard as I write.  The Lambrini was finally opened and added to the grapefruit/vodka concoction and garnished with a spring of fresh basil (it was handy).  And voila - a new cocktail was created.  I called it Lambrini's Revenge.  It was so tasty that it has almost erased the jello shot fiasco that has just occurred in my kitchen.  I highly recommend you try one sometime!