#long drinks

exquisite downtown caffeine craft for ideal double fisting (dont worry i shared the wealth:) and that hibiscus garnish! 

I have an aunt who believes in the strong influence the planets exert over our daily lives (as well she should). In our house growing up, there were several children, myself included, who were born between May and June.

Whenever something went wrong--an argument, shouting, melted ice cream, a suspected case of hospital-borne superbug MRSA in a relative--she would lament within earshot of Mars, our governing planet: “Geminis! Too many geminis!”

It wasn’t until my early adulthood that I came to understand what she meant. We are disasters; we are scapegoats. June is a terrible time for a birthday, because there is always someone getting married on your birthday, and all you can do is taint that long, warm, hazy month laid heavy with memories and friendship with your awkward invites and even more awkward refusals.

It’s a hard shift. Trust me - I know. The planets say that you will draw on this strength, won in the summers of your life, to get through a visit to a bar tonight with someone you haven’t seen in six years but who has nontheless arrived in your city by coincidence from a place several thousand miles distant so, dude, it would be rude not to see them. Dude. Dude. Just go, already.

Ugh. Fine.

  Makes: 4 cups

Ingredients 

·             ½ cup caster (superfine) sugar

·             ½ cup water

·             ¼ cup rosewater

·             ½ cup gin

·             2 cups Prosecco

·             2 cups soda water

·             Ice cubes, to serve

·             Pink rose petals*, to serve

Preparation

Place the sugar, water and rosewater in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.

Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Allow to cool completely. Place the rosewater syrup, gin, prosecco, and soda water in a 6 cup-capacity jug with the ice and stir to combine. Top with the rose petals to serve.