South Coast Winter Weekend

We are heading down to the NSW south coast today for the weekend!

Staying at my parents cabin - last time we were there it was 47 degreees (celcius!!) AND we got engaged! (lots of piccies in this post!) This time we were going for a mountain bike race....which has just been cancelled due to the horrible weather, but we are still going to go anyway! We are meeting our wedding celebrant today, which im really quite excited about & going to do a bit of a hotel reccie for places to suggest to our guests. This time instead of chilled champagne & swimming in the lake i think it might be more mulled wine with the fire going! Yummo! Oh & i have also booked us in to go for lunch at Rick Steins Bannisters (where we went with our parents the night after we got engaged & had the most ammaaaazing seafood meal!) so really looking forward to that again! Its a bit pricey but was totally worth it!  Here is my veriosn of mulled wine - give it a go - a bit like hot sangria!

2 unwaxed oranges

1 lemon, peel only

150g caster sugar

5 cloves, plus extra for garnish

5 cardamom pods, bruised

1 cinnamon stick

2 bottles of fruity red wine

1. Peel and juice 1 orange, and add to a large saucepan along with the lemon peel, sugar and spices. Add enough wine to just cover the sugar, and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 – 8 minutes until you have a thick syrup.

2. Meanwhile, if you’re serving the mulled wine immediately, stud the second orange with 6 vertical lines of cloves, and then cut into segments to use as a garnish.

3. Turn the heat down, and pour the rest of the wine into the saucepan. Gently heat through and serve with the orange segments as a garnish.

Kick back by the fire & enjoy! yuuuum!