Anyone for Cocktails

There can be few greater pleasures than enjoying a cocktail on a warm summer evening though in my opinion two or three can increase the pleaser.  The thing that makes cocktails so special is that they are all so different.  They can be sweet, sour, sparkly, milky or even spicy but they are rarely boring.  In South Shields we don’t get that many warm summer evenings so it’s just as well that a cocktail on a cold, wet, rainy, windy or snowy evening (or afternoon for that matter) is just as good.

My favourite is a Hot Shot Mojito at Mambo Wine and Dine.  This is a delicious mixture of Kraken Spiced Rum Old J Spiced Rum, Fresh Lime Juice, Fresh Mint, Sugar Syrup and Ginger Beer with a secret ingredient added to spice it up.  All very good except I don’t really like mint in my cocktails so I have it without.

Hot Shot Mojito time

Oh and I like it a bit spicier than most so I double up on the secret ingredient.  I love the fact that the staff at the newest (and in my opinion best) cocktail bar in town don’t hesitate to make sure your drink is mixed just the way you like it.  I also love the excellent food and table service in the bar.

Donate to Win

By now you might be thinking I have shares in the place – unfortunately I haven’t.  But when the owners heard about my 5iftyby5ifty challenge and that I wanted to raise £5,000 for charity they gave me £15 worth of vouchers to help get the ball rolling.  I thought about auctioning them but wasn’t sure I would raise that much.  Then I thought I would raffle them until I found out I would need a licence to do that online which left me with a bit of a problem.

What could I do with these vouchers to raise some money?   My first instinct was to donate the money and keep the vouchers for myself but that didn’t really seem very fair.  So I’ve come up with a competition that involves another of my greatest passion – shoes.  And you will need a great deal of skill to win.  So here’s the rules:

1. Leave a comment guessing how many pairs of shoes I have (it’s somewhere between 10 and 200);
2. Donate a minimum of £2 at www.justgiving.com/5iftyby5ifty (that’s the smallest donation allowed on the site)

The vouchers must be used by 5 September so the competition will close at 5pm on Friday 28 August so make sure you get your entry in as quickly as possible.  As it’s such a short competition my aim is to raise £30.

And the winner will be able to enjoy a cocktail in the sun (or rain) this Bank Holiday weekend.

Good luck everyone