I know what you’re thinking — What’s a Wassail Report?

I’ll tell you in a minute… Or two. But first…

This award is special for a few reasons.

First, Terry gave it to me. 8 Kids and a Business is one of my favorite blogs and it is an honor to receive this one from her. Thanks, Terry — you are a great Catholic blogger!

Second you can receive this award multiple times, which means, I can give it to anyone I want, and if they already received it they get to add…

Third, STARS! That’s right, STARS! Every time you get nominated for this award, you get a star (up to six STARS per household). More details below…

Here are the rules (piece of cake):

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen — there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required — and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award — http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group — click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award — please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award — and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting STARS!!!

When you begin you will receive the ’1 star’ award — and every time you are given the award by another blog — you can add another star!

Don’t wait. Start now and collect all SIX STARS!!!!!!

It is a great pleasure for Biltrix to nominate more worthy recipients for the 2012 Blog of the Year Award, but first…  

The Wassail Report

It is officially the last day of the year (unless you live somewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which case, you’re already a year a head of us — the rest of us will catch up to you in a few hours). Whatever your plans, just ditch them.

Okay, you can keep your plans as long as you can incorporate this extremely simple and easy to make recipie in to them. It takes less than 20 minutes to prepare and will fill your home with festive aromas to hail in the new year — seriously, folks. You have to give this one a try.

Wassail (Pronounced… just listen to the song)

Wassail is basically a super glorified apple cider. The term “Waes Hael!” is Old English for “Be ye healthy!” The drink smells healthy, tastes health, and is healthy (depending on how much substance you decide to add to it — more on that later…)

The concoction I made (see picture above) got consumed in the course of one family event, so it looks like it turned out well. To my tastebuds it did anyway. I make this punch every year according to my own recipie, which I am sharing — for the first time ever — with all of you today.

Note: whenever I cook, the eyeball is the measure of all things (with a little help from my tastebuds). I’ll say a word or two on “measurements” at the end. For this wonderfully festive concoction you will need:

• 2-3 gallons of Apple Cider
• 2 large oranges
• 1 large apple (your choice of apple)
• 1 large ginger root
• 4 cinnamon sticks (more if you want to put a cinnamon stick in each persons cup for effect)
• ground cinnamon
• powdered ginger
• cloves
• allspice berries (whole)
• nutmeg
• * (optiona) mace — just a pinch
• * (optional) a quart of orange juice
• * (optional) I’ll tell you later….

Here’s the fun part (only the beginning). Pour 2 of your 3 gallons of apple cider into a large pot on the stove and crank it up to full blast. I like to add the ingredients, while the juice is heating up, in this order. Slice the oranges and apples into wheels (1/4–1/2 thick) and toss them into the pot, unpeeled (you should probably wash them first… better yet, scrub the oranges with a fruit brush to get the wax off). Slice large ginger root into thin round slices (unpeeled) and chuck ’em in the pot. Give it a stir.

Add the 4 cinnamon sticks, a palmfull of cloves, and a palmfull of allspice berries (you may add more at any time, as you prefer). Give it a stir. Add an eyeball-measured teaspoon of ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg (each) — you can add more cinnamon or ginger (or even nutmeg) at anytime later according to taste. Give it a stir. I personally don’t think you can over do the ginger, but too much cinnamon can be overpowering, and nutmeg, well, too much of it can be toxic, so go easy with the nutmeg. If desired you can add a *pinch of mace (up to a half teaspoon). Mace goes well with apples (common ingredient in apple pie), however, some people don’t like mace. So use it at your own risk and don’t get any of it in your eye — just kidding. Give it a stir.

Bring the whole concoction to a rolling boil and let it roll for 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to simmer, cover, add ingredients as desired, including additional apple juice and orange juice (I don’t always use OJ, but when I do, I add it last). Periodically, give it a stir. And let the aroma fill your life with festive seasonal joy.

As an option, the recipie also calls for scotch wisky (not rum, not burbon, Scotch). Scotch give it the final touch of flavor. You can add it to the boiling mixture, but that’s not what I recommend (however, if you do add it to the boil, the alcohol will evaporate and leave just the essence of Scotch). I like to leave a little room for an eyeballed-shot (1/2– a wee bit less than 2 ozs.). Alcohol boils @ 173° F / 78.5° C, as opposed to water @ 212° F / 100° C, so if you add your splash of Scotch immediately after (or before) you ladel the hot wassail into your festive wassail mug, it will probably evaporate within 5 minutes. You can also forego adding the licor, because the it is still wassail with out it and tastes fantastic with or without it.

Make sure and use festive mugs and garnish with a cinnamon stick in each cup (optional) and an orange wheel (optional, but nice!). Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

And Now…

The Nominees for the 2012 Blog of the Year Award:

• 1CatholicSalmon
• 8 Kids and a Business
• Apronhead
• Brother of Paul
• Catholic 1
• Catholic Libertarian
• Catholic Teen Apologetics
• Catholicism Pure & Simple
• Citizen Tom
• Comments from Cathy
• Contemplative Mind
• Daniel Undem
• FlashVine
• ForagingSquirrel
• Frangelico Institute
• From the Pews
• Gracie’s Quest
• Inspire My Life
• Keep Life Legal
• LameHousewife
• Life of a Female Bible Warrior
• LifeVigil
• Memoirs of a Candle
• My Blog
• My Hope Box
• My Name is Marcy
• Perpetual Learner
• Reinkat
• Resting in His GraceJ
• Servus Fidelis
• The Armchair Apologist
• The Interface
• The Peanut Gallery
• The Rainy View
• This Blogging Thing
• Two Heads
• Walter Bright

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you,
and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year!