It’s Dickens weather!
Certainly Charles Dickens is my favorite writer to get cozy with when it’s cold out. There’s always A Christmas Carol and the wintry Bleak House, but on a recent chilly evening (I wish I could say it was by a fireplace), I picked up The Pickwick Papers, which follows the course of Mr. Pickwick (the English Don Quixote), as he travels hither and yon with his cockney Sancho Panza and suffers one hilarious outrage after another.
Responding to an invitation to the country early in the book, their barouche (or carriage) is well-stocked:
“Fastened up behind the barouche was a hamper of spacious dimensions—one of those hampers which always awakens in a contemplative mind, associations connected with cold fowls, tongue, and bottles of wine.”
I don’t know how you’d go about leasing a barouche these days, but reading this made me think of holiday travel, table spreads, and those beautiful but awfully pricey Piccadilly wicker picnic hampers from Fortnum & Mason. A hamper might be very generous as a gift, but speaking as well of wine...and something a bit more affordable, what about this faux-wicker wine cooler I found from Kikkerland for roughly ten bucks? What a chic way to transport your gift of wine—and I guarantee this is the one time your gleeful recipient won’t mind being left holding the bag.
Responding to an invitation to the country early in the book, their barouche (or carriage) is well-stocked:
“Fastened up behind the barouche was a hamper of spacious dimensions—one of those hampers which always awakens in a contemplative mind, associations connected with cold fowls, tongue, and bottles of wine.”
I don’t know how you’d go about leasing a barouche these days, but reading this made me think of holiday travel, table spreads, and those beautiful but awfully pricey Piccadilly wicker picnic hampers from Fortnum & Mason. A hamper might be very generous as a gift, but speaking as well of wine...and something a bit more affordable, what about this faux-wicker wine cooler I found from Kikkerland for roughly ten bucks? What a chic way to transport your gift of wine—and I guarantee this is the one time your gleeful recipient won’t mind being left holding the bag.
8 servings
Ingredients:
1 (750ml) bottle dry white wine
1 ½ cups pomegranate juice
1 cup vodka
1 cup St. Germain (elderflower liqueur)
2 (12 ounces) ginger beer, plus more for topping, if desired. Perhaps ginger ale?
2 grapefruits or blood oranges, sliced
Seeds from 1 pomegranate, plus more for serving
2 cinnamon sticks
Cinnamon sugar for the rims of your glasses (optional)
Method:
1. In a large pitcher, combine the wine, pomegranate juice, vodka, St. Germain, grapefruit or oranges, pomegranate seeds, and cinnamon sticks. Stir. Transfer to the fridge and chill for up to 1 day.
2. Rim your glasses with cinnamon sugar, if desired.
3. Just before serving, add the ginger beer. Fill each glass with ice and pour the punch over top. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.
Sounds great! Pour me a glass. (Fortnum & Mason--thanks for bringing up a good memory for me--what a fun and amazing store!)
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