Tonight, my newfangled birthday present led me to an old fashioned recipe: homemade tonic water. Okay, so the recipe isn't totally old fashioned, but the making of tonic water with quinine has been around for a long time. Did you know quinine (cinchona) originated in Peru and its bark not only fights malaria but has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties as well. It used to be prescribed in the US for nocturnal leg cramps and Lupus. Careful, though, kiddies. Overdoing it is known to cause cardiac arrhythmia and other nasty side effects. A tonic of quinine bark is bitter. To drink it daily requires some tangy citrus, sweetener, and - if you were a British officer in Africa - gin! So the gin and tonic was born. I imagine they enjoyed taking their medicine each night (probably free of leg cramps). Back to the newfangled birthday present: a Sodastream soda maker I received from Mom and Dad. It makes spark...