Winter Pimms

Ask my boyfriend what I like to drink, and he'll look slightly bemused and offer "Tea(?)" as the most likely answer... press him for alcoholic drinks and he'll probably tell you "sherry" by which time my credibility as a cool thirtysomething Londoner will be sinking faster than shows are closing on Broadway (which, by the way is fast. Damn the economy). Both of these are infact true, I mainly subsist on cups of builders tea, drunk whilst scalding hot. To explain, ask anyone who works with children how they drink their tea and they will respond in one of two ways:

• whilst scalding hot so no one can take it away from me or distract me from it


• or cold as the above has happened and I'm damned if I'm losing my much needed caffeine fix

Similarly the sherry is a post Brownies tradition, the three Guiders that run my unit have dinner together after a meeting, and dinner is always preceeded by a much needed sherry. Anyway, to get back to the subject in hand, since the accident I've been off alcohol almost entirely, save for the odd sherry - I really can't face the taste. That is until I braved a pre-Christmas Carol service, after which was served hot glasses of Winter Pimms.

Firstly, why did no one tell me about this before? And secondly, yegods it's good, as Elle Woods might say... "so much better, oh much better, hello much better" than Mulled Wine which I've always found slightly odd, as the spiciness and heat doesn't work with the flavour of red wine for me. Having dug around for recipe recommendations, I located a bottle (why did I only buy one?) and made it up in the following way:

1 part Winter Pimms

1 part cider

2 parts apple juice

Cinammon sticks, Cloves, Star anise and Sliced apple added to taste, I like lots of cinammon and cloves, not so much of the star anise. I think cardamom pods crushed lightly might also work well.

Pour all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Serve in fairly thick glasses (I'm slightly worried about the heat and thinner glasses), and drink happily whilst watching the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special. Result - one very happy blogger.

The only question remains, as it's Winter Pimms and not Christmas Pimms, does that mean I can continue to drink it until I see some sign of Spring Awakening? (sorry couldn't resist)