For us, Maundy Thursday has always meant cocktails and good company. For the past five years we've headed out for a few drinks with our friends to celebrate the start of a four-day weekend. A worthy occasion, I feel.

This year, most of our friends are half a world away and our London buddies all had good (or passable) excuses. Did that stop that the Wilsons? Of course not. After work, we sipped cocktails on the patio of The Lonsdale in Notting Hill while enjoying the warmth of the setting sun. So who was "The good company"? There is no better company than my husband. We shared the details of our day and discussed our upcoming trips.

Afterwards we wandered up the road to Nyonya for dinner. I had a craving for Laksa that I wanted to satisfy. I'm now drinking beer and enjoying spicy foods. I think I'm turning into a pom. (Nyonya is a London rarity. It has both value for money and excellent service. Highly recommended!)

Maybe it wasn't the wild and rowdy night that it has been in the past, but it was still a really lovely evening. Good company and a drink with an umbrella in it; two ingredients that are sure to equal a good night out. And now next year I can say "For the past six years"...

A "last day of work" always requires a bit of celebration. On my last day of work, I invited my favourite gal pals to join with me in a cocktail or two of last day of work happiness. Of course, being the elite organising team that we are, we made an EVENT out of it. (photos)

Mandates:	Drink Cocktails Eat Canapés Wear Red (The wearing of red was a complete accident. Clearly we should all ring each other before we leave the house)
Venues:	Different Drummer @ Glebe Moskaba @ Glebe Madame Fling Flong @ Newtown Zanzibar @ Newtown
Best Cocktail:	Different Drummer @ Glebe With a one and a half hour cocktail happy hour who can go wrong? Cocktails are 2 for the price of 1 from 6 to 7.30pm each evening.
Best Canapé:	Madame Fling Flong @ Newtown Funghi Ripieni (Baked cup mushrooms stuffed with roast butternut pumpkin, pine nuts and goat's cheese), Melanzane Fritti (Eggplant rounds dusted in cumin, deep fried and drizzled in honey) and Canard Filou (Magret duck breast with a pomegranate glaze with walnuts, strawberries and wilted baby spinach). Adventurous and tasty!
Best Decor:	Moskaba @ Newtown A sweeping staircase, a fish tank bar, red lounges and shimmery curtains. Pity the drinks were so expensive.
Our Favourite:	Madame Fling Flong @ Newtown This was our first visit to this newish Newtown bar. We'll definitely be back!

Easter long weekend cocktails is an important tradition for my group of friends. Every year on Maundy Thursday we head out for cocktails, dinner and a good gossip. (Well, the girls do, I'm sure the boys are there for the beer.) This year, our fifth annual Easter drinks, was held at a new venue, Oscars in Pyrmont. (photos)

Oscars: The Dealio
Pros:	Happy Hour from 6pm - 7pm with 50% off a selection of cocktails Good cocktail menu with a variety of drinks to suit everyone's tastes The Cocktail Ninja Restaurant at the back of the bar, only a short walk away... no need for camels!
Cons:	Happy Hour only from 6pm - 7pm with 50% off a selection of cocktails The Long Island Ice Tea was not one of the selected cocktails Waiting up to 20 minutes for cocktails to be made Oscars is try-hard yuppie so boys needed to wear long pants and collared shirts

"What is a Cocktail Ninja?", I hear you ask. Our Cocktail Bartender was a whiz with the drinks and he put on quite a show. His hands blurred, as ingredients flew through the air into the blender. He spun, tossed and juggled bottles and cocktail shakers. We decided that "Cocktail Ninja" was the perfect nickname for our talented bartender. We especially liked him because he let us drink the left overs from other orders... for free!

Thinking about it, a ninja would be highly suited to a cocktail bartending role. A ninja has all the right skills and implements to make a perfect cocktail.

It was Easter this weekend, and you know what that means... Cocktails! For the past four years we've headed out on Easter long weekend for a few cocktails and dinner with friends. A few modifications to the tradition this year, the venue moved from Kuletos to The Bank Hotel and the date changed to Easter Sunday, so Andrew and I could join in.

The Bank has a great range of cocktails; I especially rate their caprioskas. You can choose from a watermelon, kiwifruit, strawberry, hazlenut or passionfruit caprioska. Happy hour runs from 5pm to 8pm and we arrived at 5pm on the dot to take full advantage of cheap cocktails. By the time we left for dinner at Thai Pothong we'd definitely got our money's worth.

After dinner, back at the Back Hotel, we were introduced to a new shot by our spiky-haired bartender... the Smooth Criminal: shot glass with a sugar coated rim, chambord raspberry liqueur and baileys floated on top. Being an Easter Cocktail event we had to make up the international gesture for the smooth criminal and it goes like this: grab crotch, point finger in the hair, scream OOOOW a la Michael Jackson. We sent Natalie up to the bar for another round of shots and made her use the international gesture to order it. I'm sure the bartenders thought we were crazy (or maybe just a bit drunk). We can add the new gesture to our international gesture dictionary which already includes favourites like couscous and bingle. (photos)

So where am I up to? Last Thursday... drinks at the Cargo Bar. An event organised by Natalie as a chance for people to catch up with her while she's in Sydney. It was a chance for the rest of us, who saw Natalie almost everyday of her visit, to try out the cocktail menu at the Cargo Bar. I'd recommend the sexy mo'fo which is "kiwi and strawberry with seriously pinky vodka, frangelico and strawberry liqueur 15".

After drinks we headed to Akaneya for a delicious meal of sushi and sashimi. We practiced our Japanese with Hiro the head chef: "Doitashimashite", "itadakimasu!", "gochiso samedeshita", "bideo o mimashoka". Hiro thought we were hilarious. (photos)