A day that started extremely rough has morphed into a wonderful quiet afternoon at home.
This morning I was to catch a 9:00 flight out of Sea-tac. This shouldn’t have been a problem, but sometime last night the everpresent Seattle drizzle began to freeze, and laid down a blanket of slick ice before turning into a snowstorm, complete with thunder and lightning. So, while NBB was valiantly driving me to the airport over the truly horrible roads? The plane I was scheduled to board was, yes, getting hit by lightning.
After a few hours’ uncertainty, the Powers that Be determined that the plane’s passengers should look for other flights. I found one for the day after tomorrow, and caught a cab to NBB’s workplace. The cab driver explained that several highways had been closed due to the weather (vehicles disabled by it), or had just been blocked by disabled vehicles. Fortunately for me, he had a true cab driver’s knack for finding the only open road to my destination, and I arrived there in record time. Along the way we saw abandoned vehicles, jacknifed commuter busses, and inches – inches! - of snow right on the highway.
Not a day to go out again if it could possibly be avoided.
When I arrived at NBB’s workplace, his boss told him to go home – the roads were so bad that the city had essentially shut down, and nobody else had showed up at the office anyways. NBB was happy to comply, promised to do some research at home, and skedaddled with me.
Now, with an unexpected free afternoon that absolutely forbade any air travel, stepping out, Christmas shopping, running errands, changing oil, or even walking in the park – an afternoon in which the wind howled and shook the apartment windows and turned the air opaque with snow – an afternoon of joyful reprieve from the respective miseries of waiting at the airport for a delayed flight, and an empty cold office – what to do but turn on some Christmas tunes and embark on an afternoon of hot and warming (if you know what I mean) seasonal drinks?
Mulled Wine: It really IS as good as you think it must be. Start with a bottle of wine that is cheap and on the sweet side – I use Yellowtail’s Shiraz-Grenache (with the shocking pink label). Pour the whole bottle into a saucepan, and add: 2 cups sweet vermouth, 2 tsp (or so) orange zest, 1 or 2 tsp cloves, 3 tsp ground cinnamon (or cinnamon chips, or a couple cinnamon sticks would be nice), 3 tsp whole allspice (or maybe 1.5 tsp ground allspice); and 3/8 cup honey. All of these measurments are approximate, of course, and the whole thing should be done according to taste. Bring it to a simmer and leave it for 20 minutes, then enjoy. If you are concerned that the heat may have removed some of the (warming effects of the) alcohol, you can top it with a shot of whatever you have on hand – whisky or bourbon.
Mulled Ale:`Very well sung, boys!’ cried the Rat heartily. `And now come along in, all of you, and warm yourselves by the fire, and have something hot!’ … It did not take long to prepare the brew and thrust the tin heater well into the red heart of the fire; and soon every field-mouse was sipping and coughing and choking (for a little mulled ale goes a long way) and wiping his eyes and laughing and forgetting he had ever been cold in all his life. For all that, the mulled ale was not as popular as the mulled Wine, but I personally liked it. For this (so-called) recipe use a brew on the malty side, because the heat seems to accentuate the bitterness of hops – we tried this with a “balanced” brew, and it came out hoppier than was quite right. So, pour two bottles of your brew of choice into saucepan, and bring to a simmer while adding a teaspoon allspice and a couple teaspoons cinnamon, a half teaspoon vanilla and any other spices you think nice. Add 3/8 cup brown sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. The beer will be foaming like crazy, especially after the sugar, but you can calm it down by dropping in 3 or 4 tablespoons butter. Let the whole simmer for a bit (10-20 minutes), taste, and adjust (of course you will want more sugar or more spices depending on the brew you start with), and enjoy.
Egg nog plus: You don’t really need a recipe for this perennial favorite: store-bought egg nog, thinned 3:1 with milk, heated, with a shot or two of rum or bourbon (again, whatever you have on hand). We stirred in a little orgeat, which made it extra nicey – a drop of almond or vanilla extract would be pleasant, too.
