LINKDING

2 cups dried milk 1-1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp corn starch 2-3 cups powdered sugar - whisk all together in bowl - store in jar (shelf stable) Use 1-2 tablespoons mix per 8 oz hot water

4 c. cubed watermelon, frozen 1 c. ginger beer 1/2 c. vodka 1/4 c. lime juice Ice, for blending Mint leaves, for garnish Lime slices, for garnish Directions In a blender, combine frozen watermelon, ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice. Blend until smooth. (If it's not slushy enough, add ice and blend again.) Pour into glasses (or copper mugs!) and garnish with mint leaves and lime slices. ➤ (also good with 2c ginger beer to the watermelon and no vodka (spicier!))

250 ml red wine 250 ml tea 250 ml spiced rum 250 ml plum brandy, schnapps or any other liqueur to hand 250 ml orange juice 2 to 3 whole cloves 1/4 of cinnamon stick 2 lemon slices sugar Heat the tea, wine, rum, brandy, orange juice, spices and lemons in a pot. Let it come to a gentle simmer for around 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add a little sugar to taste.

25 fresh mint leaves 2/4 cup boiling water 2 oz gin 1/2 oz lemon juice 1 oz cranberry syrup (my delicious and much easier variant: a mug of strong peppermint tea, a shot of gin, and a dash of lemon juice.)

a gin drink I can make out of ingredients I always have on hand! definitely a thing to try. 2 oz gin 1/2 oz lemon juice 1/2 oz honey syrup (honey syrup is equal parts honey and hot water mixed till dissolved)

2 medium lemons 2 medium oranges 10 whole cloves 5 cardamom pods 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1 1/4 cups water 2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks 2 (750-milliliter) bottles dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Beaujolais Nouveau 1/2 cup brandy Cheesecloth Butcher’s twine Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lemons and oranges in wide strips, avoiding the white pith; place the zest in a large saucepan. Juice the lemons and oranges and add the juice to the pan. Place the cloves and cardamom in a small piece of cheesecloth, tie it tightly with butcher’s twine, and add the bundle to the saucepan. Add the sugar, water, and cinnamon sticks, place the pan over high heat, and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is reduced by about one-third, about 20 minutes. Add the red wine and brandy, stir to combine, and bring just to a simmer (don’t let it boil). Remove from the heat and remove and discard the spice bundle before serving.

historical recipe reconstruction! Sound kind of delicious, actually, so I want to try sometime. Ingredients 1 cup of honey 750mL bottle of wine 1 date (preferably unpitted) black pepper .2g mastic (or a dash of vanilla essence and 1 tsp cinnamon powder) 1 bay leaf small pinch saffron Method Put honey, 75mL of wine, and the date in a saucepan, and bring to the boil. If you’re feeling authentic, when it boils, add a dash of cold wine and remove it from the heat. Wait until it cools. Boil and cool two more times, and then leave overnight. If you want your wine as soon as possible, skip this step. If you managed to find an unpitted date, scoop it out of the wine, remove the pit, crush it somehow (probably with a mortar and pestle, but I didn’t have an unpitted date, so I can’t be sure this works) and put the resulting crushed date pit back into the wine. Eat the date, I guess? Add around 10 grinds of pepper, and all the other ingredients except the remaining wine. Leave to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Strain the mixture into a jug through the finest strainer you can find. Add the rest of the wine, stir it a bit, and drink cold or at room temperature. The Roman’s drank their wine diluted about half-and-half with water, so add as much water as you like to balance the sweetness of the honey. (I spent a long time researching the Roman word for ‘Cheers!’ so I could put it at the end of this post. Salutaria seems to be the best bet, but I can’t find anything super definitive. I recommend toasting your favourite ancient Roman with this beverage.) EDIT: This tastes most delicious after about a week of chilling in your fridge.

Red wine, minimum of two bottles, maximum depends on the size of your pan and number of guests. It doesn't need to be good wine to make good mulled wine, it just needs the red wine nature. Apple juice. Sugar. 1 tangerine, or an orange will do at a pinch. cloves, in quantity. A cinnamon stick. Powdered nutmeg. A very large saucepan, no, bigger than that, your very largest saucepan. 1) Two hours before you want to begin drinking the mulled wine, open the wine and pour it into the pan. Fill one of the now-empty bottles with apple juice for every two bottles, and add that to the pan. Add a tablespoon of sugar per bottle. Add the cinnamon stick or a half a teaspoon of cinnamon per bottle. Add half a teaspoon of nutmeg per bottle. Leave to sit. 2) Stick as many cloves as you possibly can into the tangerine. Add the cloved tangerine to the pan. 3) Put the pan to sit on the ring where it will be heated. Let it sit quietly. This is called "marrying the spices". I've often omitted this step due to lack of time, but it's well worth it. If you're going to go out and drink the wine when you come back, this is the point to leave it. 4) Three quarters of an hour before you want to start drinking, put the heat on really low under the pan and allow it to heat through slowly. You don't have to do anything. The sugar will dissolve, the spices will infuse, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well. Don't turn up the heat impatiently, allow it to warm through very slowly. Taste for warmth from time to time, it should be warm. Don't turn the heat up, it really will warm through on its own, and you'll ruin it if you boil it. 5) Serve into mugs with a ladle. Leave on low heat and keep drinking until done.