Hot toddies

So, I haz cold. This is all frith_in_thorns fault, nyah. Since, unlike hers, it has not yet evolved into Dethflu, I am counting my blessings.

The one thing that is very nice about illness, however, is my recently-evolved tradition (i.e. since I went to university and did not have to worry about my parents Judging my terrible life choices) of Spontaneous Hot Toddies. Growing up, honey and lemon, drunk as hot as you can physically bear, was the sore throat remedy of choice and household mandate. (Frith claims that sweetened hot milk was hers, but that seems a really wrong and strange practice to me. What traditional illness recipes did you all grow up with?) When I was ill and bored in Second Year, I started to ... modify the honey and lemon slightly. At first I started by trying to make actual proper toddies, but I was a housebound/poor/any student and my ingredients were limited. So!

Soon, variation became the fun of it - the recipe I generally go by now is:
Strongest alcohol on hand + most tasty alcohol on hand + fruit juice, or other citrus-based soft drink + spices. Microwave, and then breathe in the alcohol fumes to clear your nasal passages. (I DID make mention above of my terrible life choices, ne?)

It is always different, which is the fun of it. However, last night I made what I feel to be the ultimate version, and going entirely against the spirit of Surprising Toddies, I am going to record my formula for posterity.
*Dram (probably a shot and a half) of rum.
*Decent splash of ginger wine
*Shot or so of lemon juice, plus a splash of weird artificial tropical squash
*Spices - cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. Chopped ginger.
*Oregano, splash of Worcester sauce, a few chilli flakes.
*Honey
Heat, stir and serve.

You, dear reader, are probably judging this combination HARD right now, I would imagine. But it was really, really good!

STOP-PRESS

Exclusive new episode of All The Terrible Cakes!


This Coffe and Walnut Cake with coffee icing and praline bits (om nom praline) failed in the opposite manner to last week's disastrous Red Velvet, in that it tastes perfectly good, it is just Everything Else that is wrong.

I accidently nudged the thermoneter dial from 160o up to Maximum while keeping watch over a pan of praline and within five minutes the top layer of cake became a little ... incinerated. But! That layer was cut off and everything was perfectly fine, though the loss of the crust meant that the icing got rather crumby. As you may be able to see.

Sometimes my cooking does bother me, but I think over time I've come to view it as equivalent to any other moderatly expensive and occaisionally wasteful hobby. (Which is a postive thing! That sounds really bad when I put it like that.) But then, as Cabin Pressure showed me very quickly, I do have rather a lot in common with Arthur, and the ability to create Surprising Rice and Fizzy Yoghurt (recipe for the latter: yoghurt+time) is perhaps one of those points of similarity. :P