Mulled wine / goodbye Boston

The clock is ticking through our final week in Boston. Doesn't quite seem real... Yesterday we had a birthday / christmas / solstice / goodbye / freeloading party - I guess things started to feel more real... Lots of friends came by to say goodbye and help us out by taking some of our stuff away (I was taken aback by the attendance, given the time of year). Seb rolled out his pretzel factory for one last time in Boston, and I kept a pan of mulled wine going on the hob all afternoon / evening.

The mulled wine is made the same way I used to make it as an undergrad, and ever since - lots of Christmassy memories. I am in the less-is-more camp when it comes to alcohol levels: I like to add orange juice rather than spirits. The orange juice provides sufficient sweetness for me, but in you like it sweeter you can add honey or have it nearby so people can add some to suit themselves.

I can't imagine there'll be much more cooking this Christmas - everything is in boxes and we have hardly any food left. So I suppose this is it.

(makes ~20 servings)

~ 2 bottles red wine (not the cheapest, but not the best either)
1.5 litres fresh orange juice
1 medium-large orange, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
8-10 cloves
~5 whole green cardamom pods (optional; allspice / nutmeg might also be good)
honey on the side

Pour the wine into a large saucepan and add the orange juice. Add a bit at a time and taste in between until you get a wine-juice balance you like. Add the sliced orange, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom to the pan and heat over a low heat until it is just below a simmer. Keep the heat really low, so the mulled wine stays warm but does not boil. Ideally keep like this for ~30 min before ladling out the first serving. You can keep it going (below boiling) a few hours, and you can top up the liquid a couple of times before the spices lose their power.

Parsnips / Thanksgiving

We were invited to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving with our friends M+G. We had heard so much about M's famous Pittsburgh family we just couldn't resist. G drove down - 11 hours through a blizzard. I quite like long car journeys so long as someone else is driving (and he likes driving). There was a lot of (American) football and a lot of food. A cornucopia. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows. All the stuff. The following day we saw turkeys in South Park, so I guess some of them made it.

And so, December is here. Tis the season for root vegetables and cheer. Although, soooo much to doooo. This recipe uses things we had in store - a necessary requirement when I am desperately trying to use up everything we have. Suggested here.

~ 6 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks
almond milk
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 small clove garlic, peeled
1-2 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/3 lemon
salt+pepper
toasted flaked almonds (optional)

Put the parsnip chunks in a saucepan and cover with almond milk. Simmer until the parsnips are soft, turn off the heat, drain and let cool a bit. Transfer to a blender cup along with the ground almonds, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust. Good stuff, warm or cold. Decorate with toasted flaked almonds and use as a dip, if you like.