Hey party people! I’m so excited about this new idea! We’re going to start a blog series called Foodie Friday, where we talk all about the thing we all love the most – FOOD!

Again, Romain and I are not culinary experts, but we spend so much of our time focused on food, so I thought it would be fun to share it with everyone! We’ll talk about our favorite new restaurants, new recipes we’ve tried, old recipes that Romain’s been working to perfect and the list goes on and on! So tune in on Fridays to make sure you don’t miss out. If you missed our post about our current favorite restaurants in the Triangle, make sure you go check it out!

I figured we’d start with something dear to my heart, which is the perfect Gin & Tonic. It’s not exactly food, but cocktails and dining go hand in hand to me. It’s not revolutionary by any means and it’s super easy to make. Maybe the simplicity is part of its charm. I think the main call out is that using the right tonic makes all the difference.

This recipe comes from the Curate cookbook, which is a super fun cookbook if you’re in the market. You should also make sure to actually go to Curate and eat some tasty, authentic Spanish food next time you’re in Asheville because it is amazing. Make sure you make a reservation well in advance. We went there around this time last year for my friend Jordan’s bachelorette trip and my best friend Julia actually ordered the Gin & Tonic – this is where my love for it began!

So here’s what you’ll need:

Gin: We usually do a “shot glass plus a little” – Our go to is usually Plymouth Gin, but I also really love The Botanist & Hendricks

Tonic: Fever-Tree Indian Tonic Water

Lemon: Romain always likes to pick the ugly ones because “they deserved to be used as well” – true story

Big Ice Cube Tray: We’ve had our’s forever, but you can get one on Amazon

 

The main players:

Some extras if you are feeling fancy: juniper berries to help bring out the herbal notes in your gin, big ice cubes (I personally think this makes a world of difference!) and edible flowers just for looks. I’m going to be honest and tell you I only bought these for the blog post.

Start with chilling your glass with ice or tossing it in the freezer for a bit. Discard the ice and add your big fancy ice cubes. For your lemon peel, make sure you avoid the pith (white part), as it tends to be bitter.

Add your gin and then add your tonic! The tonic you use is really important – it’s 3/4’s of your drink, so do the right thing and get the Fever-Tree tonic. You won’t be sorry. Using the back of a spoon to pour your tonic will help save some of the carbonation and just generally make you feel like a professional mixologist.

Enjoy!