Since I've moved to Scotland, my dad and stepmother have contrived to get an advent calendar to me every year. Mostly it comes in a brown manila envelope from my dad's office, without a card, and pretty battered and bruised. Still. How sweet is that?
This year my stepmother hand-delivered a calendar to me when she came to the UK in November. It's probably the loveliest one I've ever had the pleasure of ripping into. With big chocolate pieces from Roger's in Victoria and an impressionistic painting of small children playing hockey on a pond, it's not only more delicious than a normal, but since I start to miss the snow at this time of year, storybook pictures of Canada make me a little emotional.
It's a good thing it's so pretty, because instead of the rabid excitement that accompanied advent calendars in my youth, there's a lot of anxiety this year. Basically, I put the chocolate in my mouth and think, "(Expletive), one less day to do all of the things I need to do." There's a lot; we're leaving so soon. Soon enough that we can each have a chocolate every day from the calendar (never say I'm not supremely generous). It's no different from anyone else, but there are busy jobs, presents to make, work to make, things to bake, packing and cleaning and buying warmer clothes. Socializing with our friends on this side of the ocean until I can squeeze my favourite people in Canada.
So that's why things have been a bit quiet here. Really, lots of things happened between American Thanksgiving and now. J and I hosted a small Christmas party last Sunday, for example. I made a pretty wide array of baked goods and I'll talk about them over the next little while. But first, let's talk about the booze. We invited our guests to show up with a bottle of red that we would mull right in front of their eyes. As our friends are cheap, this strategy allowed them to arrive with the least expensive bottle they could find and we would transform it into something palatable. Really, you add so much sugar and aromatics, that it would be stupid to use anything too nice. You drown out the complexity. It's perfect for the current economic climate we're all so sick of hearing about. A friend visiting from NYC said that mulled wine was being served at every party he went to this year, and I think that could be the number 1 reason. Number 2 is that all sentient beings love mulled wine. Not liking it is probably equivalent to not having a soul.
Anyway, my much-wined friend said that mine was the best. As he's a straight-talker and has a pretty honest face, I'll be flattered enough to believe him. So here's my recipe:
1) Put on your party dress. I went for black velvet because I sort of wanted to feel like an eight year old. Nothing like reverting for Christmas. You're going to be pouring a lot of wine straight into a pot and this is a decadent activity and it calls for a party dress. If you're not inclined to wear dresses, put on something spiffy. Silk would be nice.
2) Pour in lots of cheap wine into a big pot over low-to-medium heat. You want to warm it without boiling it - keep that booze in. We started with four bottles. I hid the empties before the guests came because they were so offensively cheap. The bottles may or may not have been plastic.
3) Get some oranges. I started with one juicy one for the initial four bottles. Cut it in half and squeeze it into the warming wine. Then take some cloves and stud the peel. Throw it in.
4) Add your spices. I used a few cinnamon sticks, freshly grated nutmeg and a vanilla pod (cut in half lengthwise with all of the seeds scraped out and added to the wine). Obviously there was already some cloves in there, too.
5) Add some other kind of booze. Normally brandy is used, but I didn't have any. An orange liqueur would be nice, too. But as it was St Andrew's Day and we had the makings for Whisky Macs available, I poured in a slug of ginger wine. It gave it a little kick while not drastically increasing the alcohol content like a more powerful spirit might. This is an uncharacteristically mature decision on my part.
6) Sugar! Pour some in. And add a healthy squirt of honey. I would start with about 1/2 cup of sugar and taste and adjust. You'll probably need more.
That's it. As the supply diminishes, just pour in another bottle. You'll need to put in more sugar every time you top up and more spices, oranges and liquor from time to time. I had a little station set up next to the pot so I could easily throw things as they were required. We ended up drinking our way through 12 bottles on a quiet Sunday afternoon. And you can serve it in your prettiest tea cups. I just found a couple of these ones a couple of weeks ago and hadn't broken them in yet. I love the gold rim.
Drink and be Merry!
