I always post a short or indeed Christmas post at this time of year and if you’d like to look at some earlier efforts before you make yourself a drink then be my guest.

1. London as you’ve never seen it before… at Christmas with the voice of an Angel.
2. Christmas through the ages
3. When to take the Christmas decorations down? Or When Christmas used to last until February!
4. 8 Myths About Christmas Debunked
5. The history of Father Christmas & Santa Claus
6. The Christmas Truce and football match of 1914.
7. https://stephenliddell.co.uk/2013/12/23/ghosts-of-christmas-past/

Now down to the important business, the booze!

There are lots of great traditional British foods and drinks that people have enjoyed down through the ages; one of the most popular of these is Mulled Wine.

It might seem a little strange to have a hot alcoholic drink if you live in some places in the world, but if you live somewhere with cold winters and in times past, unheated homes then I can assure you it makes perfect sense and there is nothing nicer.

It’s really quick and simple to make, easier still for myself as I make my own wine from garden grown grapes and when you’ve done that then the mulling process is just the icing on the cake.

So what do you need?

Ingredients

• 750ml bottle red wine
• 1 large cinnamon stick, or 2 small ones
• 2 star anise
• 4 cloves
• 2 strips lemon zest, pared using a vegetable peeler
• 4 tbsp caster sugar
• 100ml sloe gin if gin is your thing.

I don’t use gin in mine and I use lemon juice from a bottle rather than lemon zest as I wasn’t going to buy a lemon just for this!

Method

I hope you like my quick seasonal recipe and for everyone who celebrates it, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.