It's been HOT in Susan's little corner of the universe. Normally she is able to withstand suburban NY summers in her un-airconditioned home because her property has trees & a cross breeze. During heat waves she keeps the overhead fans going, blinds drawn and moves only when necessary. 4pm is the magical hour when things start to cool down enough to open the windows and let the breeze do its work. Unless there is no breeze and then she's f*cked.

A few years back Susan hosted a recurring house guest who gifted her a number of things including a fancy coffee machine and an awesome ice cream maker. Susan is not such a big fan of ice cream but she loves sorbet, especially if it's tart, and that's what she makes in it. There are three main components to the machine; the motorworks, an insulated bowl & the paddle. The insulated bowl needs to be kept in the freezer until ready to use, but since Susan's freezer is small the bowl gets stored off season with the Zoku ice pop molds, which is where it still was.

Susan came home with lemons & mangoes hoping to concoct within her kitchen some relief from the heat. She climbed on top of a chair to retrieve her insulated bowl from deep storage then set to work making the necessary room in her freezer.  Assessing the situation with extreme prejudice she started tossing anything she would not be using in the current season till only one expendable thing remained, her home made lobster stock.

Travel back with Susan to this happy day almost two years ago, back when she thought she had oodles and oodles of time to love and grow old with people, back before she was stunned by an enforced change in plans. Anyway, Susan was saving the lobster stock for risotto, the perfection of which was still under development because it's always too al dente. She had already dedicated a good amount of the Twentieth Anniversary Lobster Stock to this project before switching to less precious stock, while the original was kept in frozen anticipation. Now it was about to be chucked because Susan was hot.

She unzipped the two large frozen gallon bags, placed them in her sink, and assisted in their transformation by running them over with hot water. As their cherished contents melted they released their lovely salty lobstery fragrance and Susan breathed it all in, remembering how she sauteed the shells in olive oil with garlic and then simmered them into a golden broth. It was a meditation during which she was freed from the responsibility, and also the promise, of the lobster stock.

She shoved the insulated bowl into her freezer and set about to wait until it was ready, 24 hours.