When life hands you ginger

When the sky looks like this

and you bought too much ginger at the supermarket, and the new, 25th-birthday edition of Cuisine magazine has arrived in the post, and you have no place else to be, then what's a girl to do but make ginger beer? Not the proper, demi-john brewed, lovingly tended ginger beer, but an instant version that's nevertheless pretty damn good, especially on a day like this.

Express Ginger Beer

100g root ginger, skin and all, grated
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 lime
1 orange
1 litre soda water

Put the ginger, sugar, and skin of the lime and orange into a bowl, and give it a good bash so the oils are released from the citrus.   Leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

Add the juice of the lime and the orange, and top up with the soda water.  Strain into a large jug.  Taste, and add more sugar as required.  Alternatively, if you like your ginger beer sweeter, you could use lemonade instead of soda water - I like mine firey and peppery and less sweet.  Serve over lots of ice.