Sunday, February 1, 2015

A COCKTAILEY AND MOCKTAILEY SATURDAY.....


Hey guys, Happy new month. Can you imagine that we are already in February. Welcome to the month of love, joy, happiness and the month of moving to greater heights.

It is also the month of elections. People please pray for Nigeria, our politicians are seeming a little bit or a lot desperate. I have never seen as much name calling and assaults in this elction period as against previous elections.

I am just afraid for the people who are going to man the polling booths. I know what happened to my friends and i when we conducted the elections last time. Some people were thrown out of the polling station (to save their lives) and the ballot papers burnt, some had to run away because they started shooting in the area and I had to count the votes under heavy (and I mean seriously heavy) police presence using their hilux front lights to see what I was doing.

For the first time I entered a police hilux van and held the results close to my body because when we were almost through some people wanted to snatch the ballot boxes. A lot of us were still at the inec office at 12 midnight collating the results with threats from different party agents.

That is a story for another time. Please just pray for us is all I ask. We need to move forward. Nigeria is not doing so good.

Anyway one problem we have in Nigeria is unemployment. It seems hard for the government with all our oil money (may God forgive them) to create jobs for people. So basically people have to find other ways to get money either the right way or the wrong way. The ones that are willing to work look for businesses to set up. One of such business is the making of cocktails and cocktails for parties and events.

I heard on a radio show from the owner of www.drinks.ng (I hope I got the website right) that Nigerians love to drink especially at parties. And I think he is right. And with the way people want to out do each other in making their parties unique supplying cocktails or cocktails is a big deal now.

However you need to have the knowledge and skills to make a killing cocktail or mocktail. If you read here I talked about a friend of mine who was conducting a training on it at a very discounted rate.

So did I go for it? Yesssss! I didn't even know where it was holding but after asking questions I found the venue quite easily and I got there on time (a surprise to me, I am such a late comer).

Anyway we started and my friend explained the rudiments of cocktails and mocktails preparation. I always thought that I would be able to follow a recipe and produce a great cocktail or mocktail but after my Chapman disaster and the training I realised that I needed that training. She explained the tools needed, what a cocktail and mocktails was, the difference between a mixologist and bartender, what each ingredients would achieve and lots more.

The really fun part was when the other mixologist who also works as a bartender/mixologist in a top hotel in Victoria Island showed us how to mix several drinks with the available ingredients. The guy is good, really good. He was so fast in mixing that if he was not saying what he was doing you would miss out.

I have a feeling that he was even a bit slow because of us. According to the mixologists (my friend and the other guy), the class won't be fun if we did not taste the drinks. You have to taste what you are making to know if it came out right. So the preparation and tasting process began. I can't tolerate too much alcohol so after the first sip of the first cocktail and the alcohol went straight into my eyes, I knew I had to watch myself.

As he kept on making the drinks I had to pass a majority of the drinks. I think I tasted about 4 of the cocktails and all of the mocktails that were made. As for the 'brain damage' drinks (that is what he called some shooters) which were sometimes a mixture of some white spirits, I didn't even touch the glass not to talk of tasting the drink. I would have been instantly drunk. But the guys that were brave enough to try said they were nice.

All of the drinks were nice, they each had their different unique colour and taste. Some were super sweet, some were sweet (you wouldn't even know that they were alcoholic), some were a bit bitter, some were sour and sweet and some were hot. We did practicals for over 20 drinks and had recipes for over 30 drinks. We were even taught on how to make milkshakes.

Now why did I go for the training? Number 1, it was my friend who was organising it and she is good at what she does and besides she is a navy gal (navy gals stick together....#onwardtogether). The strike seems to be everlasting and I recently realised that this is an opportunity for me to learn different things. I could use my knowledge to make drinks for myself, family and friends. I never thought of setting up a business doing it. I just feel that every woman should be able to do something with her hands for example sewing, baking, weaving, making drinks etc. I know that I know how to bake but making drinks also is not that bad.

Anyway it was a really fun cocktailey and mocktailey time with Cocktails by Enliven and I am glad that during this strike I was able achieve this. Like I said I went for the training without thinking I could build a business doing it but I am thinking otherwise. I am not sure a lot of people do cocktails or mocktails in Akwa Ibom so I am weighing the options of setting a cocktail company there.

But I think I want to concentrate on mocktails because unless I can find a way to taste the cocktails without actually swallowing it to prevent me from getting drunk I can't do too much of cocktails.

For those in Ibadan, you have a chance to attend the training. Check here to find out more. If you missed for one reason or the other, don't worry she does regular training sessions. When she announces another date I would be sure to let you know but it might not be discounted so start saving up.

What would this post be without pictures, right? Here are some pictures I could take, hope you enjoy them....

Tools and ingredients for the demonstration...
My mixologist friend doing her thing...
Participants....

Guys in the house.....
My friend who also has a 9-5 job....
Recording the practicals.....
Prepping time.....
Taste and pass to others...... 
Preparation time..... 
Tasting the watermelon mint martini
Tasting the margarita.....


Apple Sour...
Blue Hawaiian cocktail without coconut cream or milk
That is all for now guys. I couldn't do so my experiments this week because I wanted to rest and prepare for the training. I would be resuming the experiments this week and might even try some of the mocktails we were taught. Let's see how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by....

Luv ya,
Petite Diva

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks dear. Sorry I couldn't call you when you were on air. I was at the training. How was your show?

      Delete
  2. Nice one.... so Mowunmi has low tolerance for alcohol...... hehehehe...... remind me to feed you with alcohol whenever we see

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehehe I would know immediately I taste it. It goes straight to my eyes then brain.... Lol

      Delete
  3. Waoo so you don't drink? But you should try red wine, it so good for the heart.
    fashionitazbybuiti.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okay....you don't drink?!?!?!.....Uhhhh...I am not sure you and I can share a drink mehnnnn....**whispering** you know Kenyans drink alot eh...lol lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice one dear,it's good to be creative and also have a side hustle.
    I try and think of what I should learn.
    I don't drink as well,i can't stand the bitter taste of alcohol
    Bolateethole.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Some alcoholic drinks are sweet o, you wouldn't know that it is alcoholic..

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...