Ginger Lemongrass Soda

Things I love about Fall:

• Cozy fashions- scarves, coats, boots, the whole shebang.
• Warmy, spiced, squashy everything. Give me stick-to-your-ribs comfort food, give me a milky, spiced latte, and let me hide the calories under the aforementioned clothes (see above: Cozy fashions)
• Halloween. Even though I’m well passed trick-or-treating age, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good scary movie and the opportunity to dress my dog up as a spider. It’s awesome.
• The weather. Yeah, it’s chilly, but foggy mornings, rainy weekends and brightly coloured leaves are hard to argue with.

Things I hate about Fall:

• Oh right, it starts getting dark ALL THE TIME. I go to work and it’s dark, I get home and it’s dark. It’s not like we’re in Iceland working off 2 hours of daylight a day, but come on guys- this sucks.
• Flu season.

Flu season. This never used to be a concern of mine, I never got sick growing up. All it takes is one doozy to knock you off your feet, though.

So, last weekend when a handful of small pirates and ninjas showed up at my door asking for candy, and Hannah the Spider lost her mind at the front door to greet them… I was wrapped in a pile of blankets, trying not to barf. It wasn’t my best.

I pride myself on having a pretty sturdy constitution. I don’t get sick, I don’t miss work, I eat loads of questionable things that are have been sitting in the fridge for too long. I was one of those kids who ate things straight out of the garden, without so much as a rinse. My European grandparents were iffy on refrigeration at best. Most of my my cold cuts, cheeses and soups growing up came straight from the counter top at room temperature- what the food industry calls the ‘danger zone.’

Of course, this means that when I do get sick… I become an unreasonable typhoon of misery. Other than delightful PMS, I’m just not used to feeling sh*tty all the time. Yes, hate me. I am spoiled in this respect.

I also really, really, really hate throwing up. I know- no one likes puking. But I am one of those people who avoids it at all costs. Whereas Colin and my sister, Megan, can easily do the ‘puke and you’ll feel better’ thing, I just can’t bring myself to do it. I know they’re right, I probably would feel better. I just… can’t.

So… I rolled myself into a burrito of blankets, put on the TV, enlisted Hannah to snuggle me back to health, and had Colin whip me up a batch of this magic brew.

Thankfully, this is one medicine I enjoy even when I’m not sick, so it doesn’t bring back any negative connotations. The bubbles and the ginger will settle any restless tummy, but it also happens to be really delicious.

Last Christmas I whipped up a batch of this Ginger Lemongrass syrup for a pregnant friend of mine- just because you’re preggers doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get fancy drinks around the holidays! She went wild for it and insisted on the recipe. Not only was it a great non-alcoholic sipper, but it settled her nausea to boot. The syrup was such a hit, the rest of her family even started nipping into it and adding it to their holiday cocktails. Vodka, anyone? Bourbon?