g & t

International gin and tonic day. It's new. 2010. And a welcome addition to the days-needing-to-be-celebrated calendar. I don't know who invented this 9th April treat, but I can see how these ideas spread.

Food editor success tonight. Happily this overshadows the food editor ineptness of Sunday night. Unwilling to let IG&T day go by without a nod to the British East India Company, I went down to the neighbourhood Cajun smokehouse. 

Armed with advice about the perfect equation of Tanqueray 10 and grapefruit, and having one in front of me, I explained to the guy behind the bar the significance of this day in the bar almanac. And then I watched with pride as he sold gin and tonics to every woman who came in. I see a whole new career unfolding before me.

Gin dates back to medieval times. It was medicinal then. And owes its popularity to William of Orange and his wife, Queen Mary, who were evidently partial to the juniper and became poster royalties for the drink.

The tonic aspect happened, as many great inventions do, out of necessity. In the days of the British East India Company hanging out in India and wearing funny shaped hats, malaria was a huge dampener on the ex-pat parties. Soldiers in India in the 19th century were already given a gin ration (of course?!) and quinine was being used to combat malaria. So they combined these two excellent liquids, along with water, lime and sugar to produce the  medicinal cocktail we affectionately term G & T. 

Gin has earned some less favourable epithets over the course of its history...mother's ruin, it makes you cry...I'm thinking anything at the wrong place and time can have adverse effects. I'm not going to blame this fine-tasting drink. Especially on it's International Day.

Whatever the brand, and whatever the fruit or vegetable accompaniment, Hendricks and cucumber, Beefeater and lemon, Tanqueray and grapefruit, my tip is that gin and tonic is best shared with someone lovely and enjoyed as part of some light and some deep conversation. If that isn't possible, enjoy the moment anyway.

My Tanqueray 10 and tonic was perfect. And, far from ruin, I have a conversation with the chef lined up for my first Jo the Food Editor flavouring in the food section of The Northsider. 

Happy Gin and Tonic Day!