Friday Favorites – the gin & tonic

It’s Friday, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’ve been battling this cold – sore throat, congestion, sneezing (essentially the works) for about a week and can’t seem to kick it. So – I plan on spending the long holiday weekend to get caught up on stuff around the house, plan a week in Germany for this summer (!), and test kitchen (that’s a verb, right?) blueberry scones. 

It’s supposed to rain here over the holiday weekend, so I decided to pass on racing in the Memorial Classic with my cold and try to rest up. I’ll be headed down to Kansas City the following weekend and seeing as I’ve already paid for that race series, I figured a weekend of rest would do me good.

Back to Friday Favorites. Today I’m sharing a few of my favorites from the week and my go to recipe for gin and tonics. Okay, sometimes it’s not exact and I eyeball it. Really, this recipe is more of a “guideline”.

I would say that on the average day I’m a beer girl. IPA is my go to, regardless of the time of year and the hoppier – the better. On the not so average day, I go for a gin and tonic or a whiskey ginger. Unless of course, you’re in Green Bay, WI and no one seems to know what a whiskey ginger is and your friend comes back with a vodka soda (?).

In my opinion, the tonic matters. Also the gin, but that’s a little more obvious. I recently picked up KOVAL Dry Gin from KOVAL Distillery in Chicago, IL. Mostly, I thought the bottle was pretty and would be a nice addition to my growing bar cart but I’m glad I picked it up though because it has become one of my new favorites. I will also use Hendrick’s because my dad taught me not to skimp on the good stuff.

Back to the tonic. Fever Tree is currently my favorite for the g&t, but I also enjoy Q Tonic. Tonic water seems to have gotten increasingly popular so there are quite a few different options on the market if you want to go the “aritisan” route. By “artisan” I mean – I’m making these for myself and not trying to serve all of my house guests because I don’t have that much money to spend on tonic water.

This week’s favorites:

My coworker found this chair at Target, which is essentially a knock off of this chair from West Elm that I’ve been obsessing over. Unfortunately, I refuse to pay $699 for a chair and they (Target) are out of stock until July.

I’m thinking about DIY-ing this bar cart once we move into our new apartment. I love a good IKEA hack.

Another IKEA hack that would be awesome for an office – this kraft paper dispenser from A Little Bit OCD. Here is another similar tutorial from Yellow Brick Home.

These veggie potstickers look so good my mouth is watering.

I made this recipe from Minimalist Baker for Singapore noodles with tofu this past week and was a HUGE fan. A+.

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Classic Gin & Tonic

Servings: 1 drink

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 oz gin *
• 4 oz tonic water **
• 1 TBSP lime juice (about one lime’s worth)
• 4-6 ice cubes
• lime wedge for garnish

 

Directions:

1. Fill a medium sized glass a little over halfway full with ice cubes. They will melt a bit once you add the tonic so feel free to add more if you wish.
2. Add gin to glass along with lime juice. Fill remainder of the glass with tonic water and stir gently.
3. Garnish with lime wedge and enjoy.

 

*Brand of gin is a personal choice. I prefer KOVAL or Hendrick’s but if you’ve got a preference by all means, go for it.

**Again, a personal choice. I’m a fan of Fever or Q Tonic for my drinks. See notes above in the blog post about both gin and tonic choices.