Dousing my deprivation

Yesterday was a bit mad, with an added Twilight Zone edge to it because I was so sleep deprived.

After scheduling stories about menopause and belly fat during the day, I went home and ate some duck fat for dinner. The youngest isn’t with us on Monday nights, so we get to eat things with sugar in them. Last night was a peking duck pancake kit.

Then I thought I’d better get around to making a foraged cocktail … As you do …

I was sent a foraged cocktail kit by The Botanist Gin recently, featuring some Australian native ingredients from around Sydney collected by Diego Bonneto, who is foraged foods expert. I got a bottle of gin and a collection of little plastic packets of lilly pillys, lemon myrtle, rambling dock leaves (whatever the hell they are), nastariun leaves and a “feral” apple.

The foraged bit is to celebrate that The Botanist Gin boasts a progressive exploration of the botanical heritage of the Scottish isle of Islay, with 22 hand-foraged local botanicals, which augment nine berries, barks, seeds and peels during a slow distillation. 

I decided to mix the Lilly Pilly Collins, which required me to make my own lilly pilly syrup, hence the delay in being an at-home mixologist. Here’s the recipe:

Lilly Pilly Collins

·       30ml The Botanist Gin

·       20ml Fresh Lemon Juice

·       15ml Lilly Pilly Syrup**

·       Topped with Tonic Water

·       Garnish with Lemon Wedge

**LILLY PILLY SYRUP**

·       1 Cup sugar

·       ½ cup water

·       ¼ cup Lilly Pilly

Method: Add Lilly Pilly Syrup ingredient to saucepan and heat till sugar dissolves. Allow to cool. Strain off, riberries, bottle and store in the fridge. Add all ingredients to ice filled glass, stir, and enjoy.

Then I had to photograph the drink and decided I needed some extra lilly pillys for decoration. This required me to forage up and down my street, which must have looked a little peculiar to the neighbours as all the ripe berries were scattered on the ground. I’m still a bit dizzy so I was quite the sight as I crouched and swayed.

After I photographed the drink, I had a swig and almost coughed up a lung, as I’d accidentally made it with all gin and no soda. Oooops. I’ve also belatedly realised that you can see I’ve photographed it on an ALDI chopping board #classy.

Then I settled on the velvet sofa for a quick trawl through Instagram to check out all the Golden Globes photos. The Golden Globes are always way more fun than the Oscars, but this year they were virtual, which took them to a whole new level of entertainment (although it was a bit sobering that The Hollywood Foreign Press Association – comprising only 87 members who nominate and select the Golden Globes winners each year – has come under fire for a lack of diversity, after a bombshell report found there were no black members currently in the organisation.)

Aside from that unfortunate stat, I loved that you got to see all the celebs at home. Nicole Kidman looked incredible and it was so pervy to see her daughters:

And I thought it was so cool that Jodie Foster won the Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture award for The Mauritanian and snogged her wife Alexandra Hedison on the couch:

Here are some of my other favourite shots:

As for who won all the other awards, ah, whatever …

#slurp

Speaking of slurping. I would be ever so grateful if you’d follow Drinks Digest on Instagram. Search for @drinksdigest and you’ll find me. I need to put some effort – and possibly money – into marketing it to increase my followers, but I’ve been a bit distracted and also I’m about to be broke again due to my contracting gig ending. Many thanks!!!!!

Song of the day: Hot Chocolate “Everyone’s a winner”