Today just happens to National Mulled Wine Day. I am very much of the opinion that mulled wine is delicious and should be imbibed the whole winter through, rather than just today. But especially today. Upon investigation it turns out that mulled wine has a very long history that stretches all the way back to antiquity, claiming its heritage from the old Greek drink ypocras or hippocras (there was no standardisation of spelling in those days) said to have been invented by Hippocrates. Back in the day, sanitisation was poor and so few people avoided drinking the water if possible, preferring to imbibe wine and other 'clean' drinks, such as the prevalent small beer of medieval Europe. Although hippocras bears little resemblance to mulled wine as we know it today, it was still heavily spiced, laying the groundwork for later change.
There's seems to be some contention regarding how mulled wine got it's name. Some claim that it derives from the word muddled, which in the fifteenth century was often used to mean drunk, whilst others state that the word mulled literally meant heated or spiced. Either seem equally plausible, so the jury's out on that one. What is certain is that the drink became very popular as time passed, and derivatives of it sprang up all over northern Europe where the winter chill was keenly felt.
There are countless variations of this drink, but I have spent all winter perfecting my own personal recipe for the perfect glass of mulled wine and I shall provide it here;
2 bottles of cheap red wine
1/3 bottle of ginger wine
150g brown sugar
1 orange
1 lemon
6 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Epic amounts of wine
1. Chop the oranges and lemons into segments and add to the pot, juicing them slightly. Add the cloves, cinnamon, brown sugar and a few splashes of wine, just enough to cover the other ingredients.
2. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved (usually take 2-3 minutes).
3. Add the rest of the wine and the ginger wine and continue to heat gently until warmed through. Serve immediately.
It smelled so delicious the camera had an emotional moment
So, to celebrate mulled wine day with me I would recommend nothing more than having a glass or two or this sweet sweet nectar. Enjoy ^_^
Falling asleep in public. Everyone does it, right? I know I certainly do. Clearly I'm not alone, as today is apparently Public Sleeping Day. This is an excellent chance for everyone to catch up on their beauty sleep somewhere other than the comfort and privacy of their own bed.
Wikihow have even created this handy guide for those who need advice on falling asleep in public. For me this is no problem whatsoever. I work in a different city to the one I live in, and have to catch four trains to get me to work and back every single weekday. I'm also a bookworm, so I'm constantly reading on the train. The combination of reading and the rocking motion of the train often sends me away into napland en route, resulting in me constantly finding myself in the very peculiar situation of having just woke up and having to immediately start running if I don't want to miss my connection. It's a weird situation to be in; I wouldn't really recommend it. Sleeping on public transport generally is fine though - just make sure all your belongings are secure and get comfortable. If you have a hood or hat or some kind pull it down to shade your eyes, and you're golden. If you're really committed to sleeping in public places, a special pillow has been developed just for you...
Allow me to introduce the ostrich pillow - a kickstarter funded project that allows you to comfortably sleep pretty much anywhere you like, at the expense of looking thoroughly ridiculous. If this doesn't deter you, pillows can be purchased here. So, to celebrate this silly holiday catch up on your rest somewhere in public today, anywhere you like. I would warn against falling asleep on the job, however - do so at your own risk.
Today is International Polar Bear Day. This holiday was created by Polar Bears International, I believe, in order to raise awareness about the plight of Polar Bears and what we can do to help. Polar Bears are kind of the poster animal for climate change, as their habitat is disappearing with increasing speed due to the indirect actions of us all. Or, in layman's terms: global warming is melting all the ice.
I've got a lot of love for polar bears, they are incredible animals. I'm a big fan of bears regardless, but polar bears definitely have a particular charm for me. They live in some of the harshest conditions on the planet, weathering blizzards and freezing temperatures. Perhaps due to the inhospitable landscape, polar bears will eat only meat, in contrast to their predominantly omnivorous cousins. Their hunts are only successful very rarely; sometimes as few as one in fifty hunts resulting in a kill. And yet, despite all of this adversity, they manage to thrive, and sometimes even find playmates in creatures they would otherwise kill;
This is because polar bears are uniquely adapted to their environment. The Latin descriptor for this animal is Ursus Maritimus, which directly translates as sea bear. They are also known around the world as Nanuk, Isbjorn and even, in Norse mythology, the rider of icebergs. Most bears are more than happy to get wet in search of food, but polar bears are the only of their kind that are actually classified as a marine mammal. Their white fur is in fact not white at all, but transparent and hollow - they only appear white due to a trick of light refraction. This fur covers almost all parts of their body, even their paws. Their skin underneath the fur is black, all the better to absorb heat. Polar bears are also pretty smart, being described as highly cognitive creatures with a mental capacity equal to that of an ape.
There are also many myths about polar bears that do not hold up to scrutiny The widely-held belief that all polar bears are left handed, for example, is completely unsubstantiated. Studies have shown that they use their paws more or less equally. Neither do they use tools to kill their prey, although they have been known to smash blocks of ice into pieces order to get to a fish frozen inside. Finally, polar bears are only to be found in the northerly Arctic regions, and never in the Antarctic regions, which means that they would never cross paths with penguins who live in the Antarctic. In fact the word Arctic is derived from the Greek word for bear and Antarctic from the Greek for without bear.
So, if you wish to celebrate International Polar Bear Day with me, there are a few ways you can do it. The first is to try and be as green as you can today, as it is climate change that is directly affecting the polar bears habitat, reducing the amount of ice they have to roam and hunt on. As far as I'm concerned, I don't own a car, I can rarely afford to get on a plane and I recycle, so I'm already greener than most of the adult population of Britain by default, but I'll be turning the heating down a bit today and wrapping up a bit warmer instead. If you would like to learn a bit more about polar bears, I thoroughly recommend watching the excellent documentary series Frozen Planet with David Attenborough, or alternatively the hour long Snow Babies which has footage of polar bear cubs ice-skating :)
The month of February is Sweet Potato Month and Feb 22 is National Cook a Sweet Potato Day. I have always been a fan of Sweet potatoes in pretty much any form, so I shall be more than happy to celebrate both of these holidays by trying a few different ways of eating sweet potato, rather than the standard chopped roasted variety I often add to a roast. A quick search on the internet immediately led me to a wealth of different recipes. But first, a little history about the humble yet tasty sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes - or to give them their botanical name Ipomoea batatas - are native to the Americas, with a history that dates back to 750BC in Peruvian records. When explorers 'discovered' the New World sweet potatoes were already being cultivated by Native Americans in parts of what was to become Louisiana and Carolina. The sweet potato went on to become a dietary staple of the colonists for many years, only waning in popularity as the the United States became more prosperous, as many had come to associate the food with hard times and so moved to distance themselves from it somewhat when their situation improved. Columbus brought the sweet potato to England from the island of Saint Thomas, and the hardy vegetable has been cultivated pretty much the world over for hundreds of years now. In Papua new Guinea sweet potato consumption is now estimated at 500kg per person annually. That's a lot of potato!
Pulled pork, crumbly beef & sweet potato fries with home-made slaw, bbq & white wine vinegar sauce. Nom!
So, I've had a bag of sweet potatoes kicking about in my food cupboard for a few weeks now. I keep meaning to make something with them, but I haven't quite managed to get around to it before now. I had some delicious sweet potato fries recently as part of a Tex-Mex extravaganza prepared by my lovely friend Helen, and that combined with today's holiday has fully rekindled my interest in this particular root vegetable. So, this is what I've got, what shall I make?
Starting point. What to do, what to do?
I looked at a few websites and a number of different recipes, but I found myself predominantly drawn to those from one particular page, a Women's Health article, believe it or not. A few of the recipes on there looked appetising and relatively simple to make so I informed my other half that we were having a sweet potato feast for dinner, much to his bemusement, and cracked on preparing it. First, the soup;
Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add stock plus 2 cups water, then add sweet potato, carrot, and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
2.
Strain out vegetables and put them in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth, adding a bit of broth if needed. (If you're using a standard blender, allow the mixture to cool first; hot liquid may cause the blender to squirt out contents. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to do this in batches.)
3.
Pour vegetable puree back into the saucepan and stir until well blended and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of yogurt on top, if desired.
Nutritional Factsper serving
CALORIES
126.6 CAL
FAT
4.5 G
SATURATED FAT
1 G
CHOLESTEROL
2 MG
SODIUM
98.7 MG
CARBOHYDRATES
19.6 G
TOTAL SUGARS
8.4 G
DIETARY FIBER
4 G
PROTEIN
3.4 G
I followed these instructions pretty much exactly, only using fresh instead of jarred ginger, and excepting only the Greek Yoghurt for reasons of economy. I also added some Worcestershire sauce, but that's something I do to pretty much everything I eat. Here's how it turned out;
Sweet potato & carrot soup with ginger & onion
It might not look like all that, but trust me; it was delicious. My boyfriend also gave it two thumbs up, despite his undying hatred of all vegetables and his dislike of soup in general. The flavours were delicious, the grated ginger really added to it and it was nice and filling but not overly so. I will definitely be making this again!
Next up, I made a salad. As my boyfriend has the aforementioned fear and hatred of all healthy food, I made a salad for myself to eat at work the following day. This recipe is another simple one from the same article, and I managed to make it pretty much at the same time as the soup;
In a large roasting pan, combine the oil, salt, and black pepper. Add the sweet potatoes and bell peppers and toss to coat well. Roast, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and stir in the vinegar.
3.
Place the spinach or arugula in a large serving bowl. Add the potato mixture and toss to coat well. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
People with depression who take monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO inhibitors) should not use alcohol or other fermented products, such as the vinegar in this recipe. Substitute apple juice for the vinegar.
Nutritional Factsper serving
CALORIES
302.5 CAL
FAT
7.6 G
SATURATED FAT
1.1 G
CHOLESTEROL
0 MG
SODIUM
363.1 MG
CARBOHYDRATES
54.8 G
TOTAL SUGARS
13.3 G
DIETARY FIBER
11 G
PROTEIN
7.6 G
Roasted sweet potato and bell pepper salad
Again, I mostly stuck to the recipe, except for adding some extra leafy greens to the spinach. I've never had sweet potato in a salad before but as it turns out, its really good. Also filling. And relatively healthy for a meal. The simplicity of preparation means that I'll almost certainly come back for some more of this at some point. Next I decided to make a snack. Crips, to be precise. Sweet potato crisps;
Cut the potato into very thin slices. Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray. Arrange the slices on the sheets in a single layer, and lightly coat the slices with cooking spray. Bake for 7 minutes, or until they've barely started to brown. Remove, turn them over, return to the oven, and bake 7 to 10 more minutes until lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl, and repeat with remaining potato slices.
3.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the cumin, sugar, chili powder, and salt. Pour over the chips, toss well, and serve.
Nutritional Factsper serving
CALORIES
138.4 CAL
FAT
0.4 G
SATURATED FAT
0 G
CHOLESTEROL
0 MG
SODIUM
386.6 MG
CARBOHYDRATES
31 G
TOTAL SUGARS
9.7 G
DIETARY FIBER
5.5 G
PROTEIN
2.8 G
Sweet potato crisps
As you can see, these didn't turn out quite as well as the first two dishes. In my defence, I was making four dishes at the same time and I was new to not just the recipe but indeed the whole idea of making my own crisps. Thus, I maintain that I have acquitted myself well in the face of adversity. To be fair, they still tasted just fine and I'm aware of exactly where I went wrong so I shall not be making the same mistakes next time!
The remaining two or three potatoes went straight into the pot for our main of the evening, which was to be bangers with sweet potato mash, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. I used no recipe for this, as it is a basic standard meal I'm very familiar with. No nutritional information for this either but I'd lean towards it being bad for you. I applied all the same rules to the sweet potato mash as I do with normal mash ie, a little salt in the water while simmering, a knob of butter, a splash of milk and some pepper before mashing together and spooning out onto a plate.
Bangers & sweet potato mash with 3 veg
This was as appetising as I knew it would be, but then again I am a northern lass at heart and I do love my hearty meals. As you would imagine, sweet potato mash is very similar to normal mash. The only differences lie in the taste and the consistency, with sweet potato being less crumbly than its more common cousin.
From just six sweet potatoes, I managed to make three meals and a snack. Sweet potatoes are a good alternative to the normal potato, and it would seem they are just as versatile. They are filling, relatively cheap to buy, and as my feast proves, go a long way. Today has certainly opened my eyes to all of the different uses for it, from now on I will upping my game when it comes to this particular root vegetable. So, cook some sweet potato today. As far as I'm aware, you pretty much can't go wrong :)
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