Dirty Blonde – Lemon Elderflower Cocktail

As an attempt to make Friday nights in feel a little more like Friday nights out, my husband and I have taken to making cocktails and this delicious gin, lemon elderflower cocktail fits the bill perfectly. We used to be out drinking cocktails a lot more than we do now so we have a good bank of memories to recreate. Two toddlers have changed our ability to perch, in darkness, on bar stools in speakeasies. So we make our own at home more often than not. I’m not advocating too much drinking as a way of coping with life’s stresses but there is nothing like a beautifully prepared cocktail and a slick of lipstick to make the evening feel a nicer place to be. If you have friends coming over, a well made cocktail shows them that you are taking their visit seriously and creates a nice sense of occasion.

We had had a few cocktails containing Lillet recently. Most memorably at Chateau Marmont on a rare child-free weekend away. We didn’t stay there, lets not be crazy, but we did manage to snag a table in their beautiful courtyard bar. That evening was extra memorable because, to my husbands dismay, my crush du jour, Alexander Skarsgard, was one table away. Of course I didn’t speak to him but I did have a wonderful opportunity to stare. Anyway, I digress. Back to cocktails…

The dirty blonde was so named because the night I made it I was in dire need of my roots doing and the drink is yellow. In secret (although not so secret now) it is also in homage to Mr Skarsgard who is also blonde and, perhaps, dirty.