bits in my gin

It was the weekend. It had been a hard old week of abstinence. A gin tonic was calling. I reached for my trusty Xoriguer only, to my horror, to find there wasn't enough juniper juice to make a whole G&T. As panic reared its ugly head, Gordon, popped his head around the port and saved me. Gordon's is fine, but a spiced up Gordon's would be even finer. Indeed, a G&T sprucing up kit had been purchased before Christmas so things were looking up. Oh yes, having paid the earth for a gin and tonic on the beach with bits floating in it, I could now attempt to replicate that holiday feeling while watching Dancing on Ice (and I hate Dancing on Ice, so there'd better be more G than T).

Rather than going out and buying a catering size pack of rose petals, juniper berries and the like to chuck in your drink, you can now buy a neat set from toque especial with plenty of necessary/unnecessary packaging thrown in. Well, let's be honest, the whole thing is not really "necessary", it's just fancy. I cracked open my set and crushed a cardamon or two into my glass, liberally sprinkled some hibiscus petals and plopped in some juicy juniper berries. Lovely. Give it a swirl and the flower petals start to release a pretty drift of pink and the other bits just infuse their thing. The different flavours were actually noticeable over the gin and the added spectacle of colour was a bonus. Good if you're trying to show off, I'd say. I did find, though, that the floating flavours made me drink quicker, as I was constantly saying "oh yes, I can taste the hibiscus now - sip - oh yes, and the cardamon - sip". Still, at least Dancing on Ice went quicker.

Oh, and apparently you can now get a set of little dried up spices for "Vodka&Tonic", "Cuba Libre" and "Vermouth", so you can have bits floating around (and in theory adding flavour and interest) to all your favourite long drinks. The vodka variety contains pieces of dried ginger, star anise and malva flower (whatever that is). Enjoy!