Saturday, 15 December 2012

Festive Mulled Wine


      
        Yesterday, a couple of friends and I decorated my fireplace mantelpiece, getting the house in the festive spirit for enjoying visiting with family and friends, and of course, partaking of traditional foods and the all important, mulled wine.  

 It reminded me of being on the homestead in Alaska, where we hiked around in the snow, scouting for the best looking spruce to decorate for Christmas.  We usually ended up bringing home about three.  

        Here, in London, I gathered flowering pink heather from my back garden.  The others brought very prickly holly, glossy ever green leaves and pine branches.  We used three, soaked, florist’s oasis foams, in trays as the base for inserting our cuttings.  Red artificial berries were added in places, and to accentuate the centre, a plaid, red, green,and sparkling gold bow.  Last, we placed, thick, cream candles at each end.  The picture shows our finalized holiday creation.  What do you think?

Here is the recipe for the mulled wine.

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

1 bottle, inexpensive red wine
1 small wine glass Cointreau
6 Orange slices, halved, and each stuck with a whole clove
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Put all the above ingredients into a large saucepan and heat to simmer.  Continue simmering for about 3-4 minutes.  Serve in clear glass cups or wine glasses, with a piece of orange floating on top.  Merry Christmas! 

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