A simple gin and tonic

We don't need to say much here, do we? It's a gin and tonic. There's not much that can go wrong. There's really only ways to make it more fantastic.

My beautiful friend Lesley schooled me in the art of the gin and tonic. We'd head over to University House and drink $3.40 G&Ts after a hard day at work. $3.40 - this was not 20 years ago, ladies and gentlemen, but around 2005.


First things first, she'd sneak me in past the vigilant door lady (I was not a member of this club). We'd sit in the garden and listen to each others stories. We'd go for hours on end, learning about each other, where we've come from and how we eventually each ended up in Melbourne in the same organisation, two offices away from each other.

Lesley has led a amazing life. I am (and always will be) endlessly fascinated in what she has to say: her time in England, her experiences in her worklife, her beautiful mother and children, her love of food and her passion for politics. A mad, mad woman in the most fabulous way.

The group around us would vary, but the conversations with Lesley would always oscillate between deeply passionate discussions on the latest flawed government policy to giggling about a how mitts rhymes with tits. Though that doesn't sound terribly high brow, I feel like that's really where I started to learn how to think: not accept things for the way they were, but to critically examine what's around me.

Our orders would change each day, but if the weather was fine and we were settling in for the long haul, gin and tonics would pop up eventually. A slice of lemon or lime, limited ice and we were away.

Since those days, I drink a G&T without thinking of Lesley. I'm sure you're meant to have them with cucumber or some such, but for me a wedge of lime is all I need.

This one is made from Tanqueray Number 10 Gin and Fever Tree tonic water. There's no rule here - be guided by taste. I plop a big cube of ice into my glass (a shorty) then pour a bit of gin in - not too much, just enough to give the drink a bit of a kick. Top it with tonic and finish with a slice of lime. Taste - it might need more of something. But normally it's all good as is.