I've been finding that when I am creative with a recipe and make alterations, it comes first from a financial perspective, and then usually from forgetfulness. I went to the store to buy ingredients for Howard's birthday cake for Saturday and ingredients for mince pie for the 29th. Because it has to be vegan, and most mincemeat contains beef suet, I'm making the mince from scratch. Exciting, right? However, there is a lot in mincemeat. And it's expensive. After walking around the store asking myself: "Can I afford this?" I looked at the list of ingredients again and started asking instead: "Can I go without this?" After paring down the recipe, I selected a few things I figured should probably go in a mince pie: two apples, dried currants, cranberries, prunes, and golden raisins. I eliminated the dark raisins, because it seems redundant, and I'll just double the amount of currants. Additionally, I skipped the mixed candied peel and candied cherries. What I decided was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to the recipe was the rum and brandy.
The first thing I did when I got back home was to make myself a hot toddy. I haven't had one of these in years, and they are delicious. Into one small mason jar I poured:
1/2 t sugar
2 whole cloves
1 small cinnamon stick (one of the ones used in the mulled wine, in fact)
a tiny, butchered slice of lime (because we don't have a lemon and a citrus is a citrus is a citrus, as far as I'm concerned), wrangled from a quarter of a lime found in the back of the fridge
1 shot of rum
Diligently following my Good Housekeeping recipe, I placed a spoon in the glass because it told me that would prevent glass from breaking when I added the boiling water. And ta-da! A hot toddy.
I wanted to be cheeky and add a photo of a hot man named Todd to this post, and when searching for one came across Todd Sanfield, who is about as unique as a Ken doll, nevertheless can lead one to some pretty racy thoughts. Have fun.
