Sour lemon and berry vodka slush

Ingredients

Juice of 4 lemons 75g Caster sugar 170g Blueberries 50g Blackberries 250g British raspberries 100ml Irresistible French grain vodka Crushed ice 330ml Diet sparkling lemonade Wooden skewers and fruit of your choice, to decorate

Method

To make the lemon syrup, put the lemon juice.

sugar and 50ml water in a small pan over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for a few minutes until the sugar has dissolved, then leave to cool, off the heat.

Blitz the blueberries and blackberries into a purée with a stick blender, then sieve.

Repeat the process with the raspberries.

To serve, divide the vodka, lemon syrup and the blueberry and blackberry purée between four highball glasses.

Half-fill each glass with crushed ice, then divide the raspberry purée between them. Fill with more ice and top with a splash of lemonade, then decorate with the extra fruit threaded onto wooden skewers.

Monday 17th May 2021, the day when we all got our freedom back. The freedom to leave our homes, hug our mums and enjoy dinner and a pint inside a pub or restaurant. The excitement and anticipation of this event is quite a strange thing to comprehend. It is an activity we’ve all enjoyed at great leisure for many many years. But at the beginning of the year it was taken away from us. Snatched away like a thief in the night, our liberty to go down the local for a swift half was gone! But now happier times are upon us. Once again we can do those things that we enjoyed.

I’m looking forward to getting back into St Nicks Market on Corn Street to taste some of the amazing dishes from around the world they have there. Or walking around the docks and enjoying a glass of West Country Cider and a slice of pizza at The Bristol Stable. Perhaps taking a walk up Gloucester Road and diving into the Caribbean Croft for a cheeky basket of their excellent jerk chicken wings? The possibilities are now endless. I think we now really have to take stock and treasure what we have in Bristol. As we have seen they can be taken away from us so quickly that we have to try and keep them going for as long as we can? The saying is true. “You never know what you’ve got until it has gone?”

Chain restaurants are fine, but on the whole they will survive. They have the capital behind them to whether out the storm. But for the smaller places they haven’t got that luxury. That’s why I think it’s important to support our local pubs, restaurants and other dining venues so that they do not become ghosts in our high streets. We all need to eat, and we should eat well. So if ohh haven’t already, check out your local restaurant, cafe or pub. Pay them a visit and support their efforts to keep us all going. If dining out isn’t your thing seek out your local food producer and get creative in the kitchen.