Santa’s faithful boozy elf had to take a break and dry out.  Nahhhhh…I’m kiddin’ you. That’s what January is for!  And we have two more boozy days of Christmas left! Home stretch! And the twelfth day is a guest cocktail…you won’t want to miss that!

So, for this entry I have one (1) photo and no recipe to speak of.  Sorry.  Some things don’t require a recipe.  One of them would be my mulled wine.  But, here’s the good news:  I measured last year!!!

Copy.

Paste.

Ta-da!!

What happened this year to result in no photos?  Well, I was running a bit late on my party prep.

Christmas.  Every year the prep is hectic and I often feel like I don’t have an opportunity to enjoy the season.  Anyone with me?  And we don’t even have kids.  I can’t imagine how it is for those of you with kids.  This year I decided to cut back on some of the “stuff”.  I baked only two kinds of cookies instead of 4 or 5.  And we didn’t send Christmas cards. That was a tough one, but it seemed a small thing that can be a bit of a time sucker.  I still made ornaments, but chose two easy designs instead of two complex ones.  And, yet, here we are, on the verge of Christmas and I don’t feel like I’ve had an opportunity to enjoy the season.  I think I need to learn to enjoy the season during the doing rather than telling myself, “I’ll get all of my stuff done and then I’ll enjoy it!”  Which never quite seems to work.

I’m blaming all of that on why I only have one photo and a copy and pasted recipe from last year.  Oh, and on all of my lush friends who slurped down the mulled wine so quickly that there were no additional opportunities for photos and no leftovers for an after-the-fact photo shoot.

Mulled Wine

• 5 bottles inexpensive red wine (I used Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon)
• Juice and juiced halves of 2 large oranges
• Juice and juiced halves of 1 large lemon
• 1 3/4 c orange brandy
• 1 1/2 c + sugar
• 1 dozen cinnamon sticks
• Small handful whole clove
• Cheesecloth

Pour the wine into a large pot.  Juice the lemon and oranges. Add the juice and the juiced halves of fruit to the pot.  Add the brandy.  Confession:  I would have added more brandy but I ran out.  I probably would have taken it up to 3 c (note from 2016:  sheesh! Three cups??  This year I did around 2.  Maybe 2 1/2).  Add 1 1/2 c sugar.

Cut a piece of cheesecloth to fit the cinnamon sticks and clove.  Cut a strip and use it to tie up the spice packet.  I used to just toss in the spices, but it’s tough to drink the wine if you’re having to filter it through your teeth and spit out cloves.

Heat on medium high until the mixture comes to a boil.  Drop it to medium low and taste. Add additional sugar to taste.

Allow it to work it’s magic for an hour to an hour and a half before serving.  You may want to check sugar again just before serving.  I tend to like mine a little sweeter and probably had a a total of 3 c in the pot when all was said and done.