Category: drinking

Summer drink recipe: let’s toast to the end of the pandemic…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

Ya, so I drank way too much during the winter and spring lockdown in Toronto. I ate too much too. Depression and boredom got the best of me, who else can relate? A lot of people I am sure. It’s something that I admit I’m not too proud of, but it’s been a hard year for me. Being unemployed and single took it’s toll. But since the spring of this year I’ve been trying to take back control of my life and turn things around…the world is finally opening up and a glimpse of normal is in sight. Toronto is now re-opening, I have job and love prospects again, and the summer time is just so beautiful! The flowers, the sun, the birds…the breezes. Can anything be better? I think not. After the horrible year in isolation we’ve had, it’s time to drink not out of sadness or boredom…but let’s lift a glass to celebrate better days ahead!

I created a delicious drink recently that I wanted to share. It’s refreshing and cold for the summer, and a little bit fruity with fizzy bubbles to delight. It’s also very pretty in colour and low calorie too. It only requires 3 ingredients that are pretty easy to find. First of which is sparkling water with a bit of flavour. I like the AHA, or Bubbly brand of sparkling water, and any fruit flavor will work just fine (i.e.. peach honey, pineapple, watermelon..etc.). Then we need frozen mixed berries, find this in any grocery store, and a nice brand of gin! Here it is, my recipe for the best summer drink ever:

Gin Berry Fizz, By Me!

  • 1 can or 355ml of fruit flavoured sparkling water (any fruit flavour or water brand will do!)
  • 1.5 oz. of gin
  • 1 big handful of frozen mixed berries (I use a blackberry, blueberry and cherry mix, yum!)

Put a generous amount of frozen berries in a high ball glass. Add the gin, then fill to the top of glass with the sparkling water. And enjoy! What I like about this drink is that it’s very refreshing, not too sweet, and eating the berries at the end really compliments the herbal botanicals such as juniper in the gin. Try it today!

The Holidays are depressing, but don’t go on an eat/drink binge…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

It’s the holidays at the moment.  And consumerist North America would want you to believe this is the best time of the year.  A time for sharing and giving, hanging out with loved ones, and just being thankful, for all the stuff we can get!  But truthfully, it is a really stressful time of year in most people’s realities.  Family get-togethers, the obligation to give gifts and find outfits for parties…and just eat, drink and be merry.  But mostly we eat and drink and gain weight.  I actually quite despise the holidays.  Being forced to deal family relations that are mostly difficult, flawed and painful are on my list this year, and there is no awesome shade of lip gloss, smoking hot colour of eye shadow, or cute mini skirt that can lift my spirits.  Christmas music playing everywhere just compounds this feeling of suffocating repetition that is the end of the year.  Mostly, I just think about all that I wanted to get done and all that I didn’t.  Yes, this time of year always depresses me for all the above said reasons.

The depressing qualities on life in general. Degas paints it in a disconnected way with the clutter of zig-zaging bar tables. The sadness of drink.
The depressing qualities of life in general. Degas paints it in a disconnected way with the clutter of zig-zaging bar tables. The sadness of drinking a glass of absinthe.

But that brings me onto this topic of eating and drinking during the holidays.  I like food.  I like me the drinks.  But I recently found out how the two actually do not go together…drinking (alcohol) actually slows down your body’s ability to break down fat and sugars, raising the risk of it being stored as fat.  That means every drink you have actually makes what you eat during that time twice as fattening…simply because it is being ignored, and your body is busy metabolizing the alcohol.  So what does this mean in terms of our holiday eating habits?  It means we have to be careful when pairing the two.

Wine and beer tend to have more calories because there are still sugars and starches left over from the fermentation process.  Which makes straight up spirits the more slimming choice.  I like to treat myself to gin and diet tonics just because I know at least I am not adding sugars to my drinking.  But also think about how drinking puts a pause button on your metabolism, and makes what you eat before, during and after crucial in terms of picking what and how much to eat.  Therefore keep meals and snacks light.  And after drinking avoid the urge to gorge on super greasy fattening foods.  Just keep drinking tons of water to wash yourself out.

You often see people washing down burgers and fries, wings and nachos with alcoholic drinks, wine and beer and as normal as this would seem, it is probably the easiest way to gain weight.  Our culture is about living, and enjoying life.  But what is enjoyable about looking in the mirror a few days later and having a double chin, or having your pants feel overly tight?  It is not always worth it, if you think about it.

You often see ads about drinking responsibly during the holidays…and this is true.  Equally as true is the sentiment that it pays to be responsible to your waist line too.  The saying everything in moderation is always one of my favourites to live by (except when it comes to great love, in that case I say live like there is no tomorrow!).