The Hot Toddy Virgin

by Cassondra Murray

If it's not too personal a question....

Have you ever had a hot toddy?

Until last weekend I was a hot toddy virgin.

Don't get too cozy thinking of me that way. For my December blog I'm planning Confessions of a Dish Whore. So depending on the subject, it can go either way with me. You just never know.

It started last Friday when I began feeling kind of puny. I've been puny a lot this fall. To be honest, I've been off my game for about three weeks, but I've been resisting getting sick.

I've been too busy to get sick, and dangit, I just don't have time. So I mentioned to a friend in an email that I was feeling rotten and thinking of taking some meds and going to bed. Now I'll tell you that I don't like taking any kind of chemical, but when it comes to sinus drainage (ew! ) and coughing, my motto is Better Living Through Pharmaceuticals. I'll do anything to be able to sleep, and thus to keep going.

So I mentioned this to my friend and she said, "Ohhhhh....you need a hot bath and a nice hot toddy and you'll sleep like a baby!"

This was a new idea for me because although I've heard of hot toddies all my life, I'd never had one or made one. I've been a bartender. I can mix a mean Irish Coffee, and I know how to pour a proper Cognac. But I'm not a liquor drinker. I like wine, but liquor? WAY too strong for these tastebuds.

Hot Toddy.

It just sounds hoity toity, don't you think? Like something I remember reading about for the first time in The Great Gatsby, which is plenty enough reason to dislike it without going one bit further. Makes me think of something a little eccentric. Perhaps a term a great-great aunt would use as an excuse to get tipsy while pretending she really doesn't drink.

You know the eccentric aunt. The one with 39 cats. All in the house. The one with giant flower-shaped clip-on pearl earrings and a tuft of off-blue, teased hair, who gossips with her cronies once a week under the dryers at the Curl Up & Dye, and keeps all her money in the mattress and wears rose water and collects twist ties and bits of string, and is secretly having a torrid affair with the minister from the Fourth Presbyterian church across town. The one who titters, "Here you go, dearie. Have a nice little hot toddy," then innocently scoops the rat poison back underneath the counter when she thinks you're not looking.

I did not want to be that aunt.

So last weekend I was desperate. Despite my misgivings, I googled "hot toddy."

Apparantly I'm the only one opposed to the sound of hot toddy, because I found about a gazillion recipes. Pages of them. Most of them looked something like this.

1 tbsp honey
3/4 glass tea
2 shots brandy
1 slice lemon

Brew tea and fill a tall glass 3/4 full. Mix in honey. Mix in brandy shots. Add lemon slice and enjoy.

Some of the recipes used chai. Some were creamy and mixed in a blender.

The one ingredient common to all the recipes was.....liquor. Not the low-alcohol wine I'm used to. Liquor. Bourbon or Scotch or brandy or spiced rum.

I went digging through the cabinets. The only liquor I had was some disgusting cheap brandy I'd bought for something long ago, used half a cup of, and stuck back to rot. And I had a small bottle of Wild Turkey American Honey Liqueur. The bottle had never even been opened.

I poured in one shot of the 70-proof liqueur. Tea did not sound like a good idea late at night, so I filled the cup with hot water, put in a cinnamon stick, a few whole cloves, a squeeze of lemon, and a spoon of raw sugar.

It still took a little getting used to for this wine girl, but can I just say I was....well....pleased....quite happy in fact..... with this form of medicine? Oh, yeah. SO much better than Nyquil.

My friend was right. I slept like a baby. And I woke up the next day with nary a sign of a drug hangover.

My husband grew up in a house where they made their own cough medicine out of cheap whiskey, honey and lemon juice. He said a spoon of it worked as well as any cough syrup he's ever used. I remember my grandfather taking a spoonful of whiskey when he had a sore throat, but I also remember the rest of the family raising eyebrows, and then frowning at him, as though God did not smile upon those who got their medicine from the liquor store--or in our Buckle-of-the-Bible-Belt dry county, the bootlegger.

My family got its alcohol from the local drugstore. Complete with God's stamp of approval.

I suppose I will have to fall back on Nyquil or Theraflu at some point, but for the moment, I'm quite content.

So content that I stopped at the store on the way home tonight and picked up another bottle of Wild Turkey American Honey liqueur. If I'm going to be sick, I figure I might as well enjoy the heck out of it.

The kettle is on the stove. I think it's about time for another dose.

Have you ever had a hot toddy?

Do you drink them when you're feeling under the weather, or do you like them for a hot drink on a cold winter night?

A treat on a holiday weekend maybe?

Does anyone you know drink hot liquor drinks? Irish coffee, perhaps?

Did your family make cough syrup themselves?

Or did your family do what mine did, and buy their alcohol from the drugstore?


Any hot toddy recipes out there?

Cruising Into Spring

by Caren Crane

Regulars here in the Lair know I am a devotee of autumn. I love the crisp air, colorful leaves and "settling in" that happens as the Earth prepares for winter. I also enjoy winter and have made a complete and total fool of myself during the Winter Olympics. (Anyone care to discuss curling? I'm now an expert! I could hardly get this post done for the women's gold medal final. Canada broke my heart!) Okay, gold medalist Apolo Ohno was just here as your daily eye candy. *g*


This year, though, it has been colder and snowier than usual, even here in the (normally) sunny South. I find myself looking forward to the budding trees and warm breezes of spring. I am also getting an itch to travel, much like my friends up north tell me they get when winter drags on too long. My friend Elizabeth says that by March everyone in Chicago is beating a path to the travel agent, begging for tickets to "anywhere the sun is shining" and this year, I can relate.


My husband is at home these days and, despite his curmudgeonly tendencies, has begun to pick up some phone calls he would previously have ignored. I came home a couple of weeks ago to be told by my beloved that we had won a cruise. Huh? Yes, indeed, I had heard correctly. My man said we won a cruise. I have no idea how we (or actually, he) won this cruise, but I took his word for it since he assured me it was real. Then I went to fix dinner or something and promptly forgot about it. Until last week, when the information about our cruise came in the mail. It is real!


We have been on a cruise once before and it was a lovely vacation. We enjoyed many things about cruising during that first trip and also learned some things to avoid - like anything alcoholic, since it costs a fortune to drink onboard! We feel better about this second cruise, armed with knowledge about how to avoid tack-on fees. This cruise is technically free, except for the unavoidable port fees since the trip is to the Bahamas and, apparently, a fuel surcharge of some sort. Hm.


Normally, we would avoid the Bahamas due to the excess of badly-handled tourism there and the likelihood of being hassled and/or pick-pocketed by locals. But did I mention the cruise is free? I have fretted about this "free" trip, knowing it will actually cost us hundreds of dollars to: a) get to the port in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; b) park our car at the port (or take a cab, if we fly or go by train); c) pay the port fees and fuel surcharges; and, d) cover the "incidentals" that always come up. (This picture is me at home, facing the reality of the money we will have spent - so sad!) The money is a real worry for us this year, but vacation - that singular, glorious chance to get away from all our cold, wintry worries for a few days - beckons like a sun-soaked siren.

The prolonged cold weather has made our so-called "free" trip more tempting with every gray, passing day. I know the sun is shining in the Bahamas and, despite the inevitable hassles, surcharges, delays and mix-ups, a patch of warm, welcoming sand is waiting for me. I think it's time to work on trip details. Maybe something around my birthday in May?

Are you longing for spring (or autumn, if you're in the Southern hemisphere)? Have a vacation planned, in mind, or at least in your dreams? If you could get away today, where would you go?

Winter Fatigue

By Trish Milburn

Anyone who knows me knows that winter is, by far, my least favorite season. I get cold easily, I hate gray days, and I've had some bad experiences traveling in wintry weather (like doing unintentional 360s down the highway until I ended up in a ditch). Even a normal winter here in the South has me layering up in fleece and watching for the earliest sign of spring -- my daffodils popping out of the ground. Of course, lately my daffodils, which popped up a few weeks ago, have been shivering. It's been a cold, gray winter with more snowfalls than we typically have. In fact, we have another covering the ground this morning, one that came overnight. There's a bit of iciness to it because it crunches on our street when people drive by. It's been so cold (down to single digits at some points) that I nearly had a stroke when I saw my last natural gas bill.

But this year, I don't think I'm the only one experiencing winter fatigue. People on the East Coast of the U.S. have been buried by one giant snowstorm after another. Residents of Texas and the Deep South even got a taste of winter -- a foot of snow in Dallas and snowfalls in atypical states such as Louisiana and Mississippi. I was supposed to go to Ohio today for a romance program at a library, but I just found out that it's been moved to March because of bad weather.

At times like this, I try to look for consolations and things to look forward to in order to get through the winter blues. For instance, I tell myself that it can snow and be cold now because I have to be inside doing revisions and reading RITA entries anyway. Maybe by the time I turn them in, the weather will have improved enough that I can start walking outside again instead of on the treadmill.

I think about where I'll be a month from today -- Disney World! I LOVE Disney World, and it'll be a nice treat in between two deadlines and a board meeting. And at the end of next month, I'll get to enjoy a visit with my sister and nieces when they fly in for a week. Yes, my entire March is full to the brim, but there's a lot to enjoy in there. And hopefully, it won't be cold and there won't be a snowflake in sight and the daffodils will be in full bloom.

So, how has winter been where you are? Are you looking forward to spring? What do you do to get yourself through winter? Or are you a winter lover? And for our friends in the southern hemisphere, what is the weather like where you are now? It's odd for me to think that Christmas and Valentine's Day fall during your summer.

Be Vewy, Vewy, Quiet....I'm Hunting Gwoundhog!

by Joan Kayse

I’m ready for spring. I want crocus and tulips and forsythias blooming. I want blue skies and Mama robins building nests. I want green grass and budding trees and soft breezes.

So Mr. Groundhog...you’re toast!

I know. I know, I know, I know my winter experience has not been of the apocalyptic proportions as Jeanne and Christie and many of our BB’s along the Atlantic seaboard. Here in my part of Kentucky we’ve had intermittent snowfalls. Yesterday’s was a measly 7 inches. On the now popular DC scale that’s a dusting. But the blankety blank stuff won’t stay shoveled! I woke to 2-foot drifts blocking my drive. (Note: There is no such thing as enterprising teens wanting to make some bucks...even the lure of my chocolate chip cookies couldn’t bring them away from their warm, snug Wii consoles.)

And now our weather guy is saying Sunday we’ll get at LEAST that much more.

I’m done.

Was it really only 11 days ago that our friend Punxatawny Phil saw his shadow? Personally, I think it’s a con as any groundhog thrust up into the glare of camera lights is GOING to see his shadow. He didn’t scurry back into his hole because of an impending six more weeks of winter! He had a flashback to those headlights on Route 86 that took his less well known cousin, Pete the Possum, out a few years back.

Now I wouldn’t really hurt anything furry and cute. After all, Marmota Monax is in the same family as squirrels (rabid squirrel!) and I like them ok. But I figure if we hunt him down and force him to see the error of his ways maybe spring will come next week!

So Phil...here’s the deal:

Snow hides the robins. We can’t see them and take comfort in knowing spring will not forget us.

Cold weather makes skin dry and rough and, well...you just don’t want to be in the Lair with scratchy Banditas. Sven does not have enough lotion.

No one can see my pedicure in boots up to my knees.

Snow bleaches everything out...until the traffic comes and then it turns into a black/gray glob that takes until July to melt. And don’t get me started on yellow snow....

Gray sky is depressing. Throw a little sun our way once in awhile. Oh, but wait. Let me put on these shades because sun plus miles of white snow = blindness.

So my question for you is, what do you have to say to Phil? What signals the start of spring for you? Whose your favorite Looney Tunes character and last, but not least, who wants to take in an oversized rodent until April?

Winter Wonderland

by Nancy

We had a gray Christmas, not a white one, with rain most of the day yesterday. Not quite the ambiance we've been trained to expect. As the dh said, "No one wrote a song dreaming of a wet Christmas." And Charles Dickens didn't write about rain in A Christmas Carol. We would've liked just a bit of the white stuff--a few flurries, perhaps, though the boy believes "snow when [he's] out of school is wasted snow."

I imagine those of you looking at anything from multiple inches to a couple of feet of snow may wonder if I know what I'm saying, especially if the snow canceled your travel plans. And I do understand that snow presents anything from an inconvenience to a confounded nuisance to a danger. Yet snow has always had a mystique here in the central Carolinas, probably because we have it so seldom. I've had snow on the brain lately, in part because of my new fixation with the Times of London website, which featured snow so heavily this past week (including the Dickens article in the link above), and because of the nasty storm crippling the central US this week. However, I actually got the idea for this blog while watching the dh's favorite holiday movie, A Christmas Story, yesterday afternoon.

At the end of the movie, the parents sit in the darkened living room with light coming only from the tree lights and from streetlights shining through falling snow outside. And they comment on the beauty of the scene. It struck me then, obvious though this may have been to others, that it isn't really the snow that's beautiful, at least not for me. It's what light does to snow and vice-versa.

Light shining through or reflecting off snow gives it a fairyland sheen. The snow covers the bumps and rough spots of the ground underneath, diffusing the light so everything glistens as though it had a magical coating. The shadows become more obvious than they would be on grass, and there's an aura of magic about the whole thing. At least for those of us who don't live with in week in and week out. I suspect this is all a matter of perspective, but I did enjoy looking at photos of snowy scenes from around the world.


Ice is dangerous--ask anyone. We've had ice storms here that brought down limbs on power lines and roofs and caused terrible hardships. Black ice caused a horrible bus crash in Cornwall last week. Yet seeing the sun shine through that ice coating a limb gives it a silvery, ethereal beauty made all the stronger because it's fleeting. That very sunlight that creates the beauty will soon destroy it.

Snow used to be a "get out of school free" card. Around here, we know we don't understand how to drive in snow, so most of us try not to. Yet there are always people who have to. For them, I'm sure, the snow is not so much a beauty as a nuisance. When I had to drive to work on snow-over-ice, I didn't love it so much. Still, I fondly remember sledding down a slick street with my friends in high school. No one else was out, and I worked up my courage by starting halfway down the hill and then going progressively higher. Because my companions were lifelong friends, nobody gave me any grief about being afraid of speed.

What about you? Is snow a blessing or a bane to you? Or both?

In the spirit of Boxing Day, I'm boxing up and sending to one commenter a duplicate soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl I somehow acquired. It's still in the packaging, but I don't have the receipt, so it's offered unused but "as is." I also have a signed copy of Warrior's Lady donated by Gerri Russell and a copy (not signed) of Don't Bargain with the Devil donated by Sabrina Jeffries.

This is my last blog post of 2009, so Happy Boxing Day and best wishes for a healthy, happy 2010!

Snow, Snow, Snow...where's the darn snow?

By Jeanne Adams
Let me say right off the bat that I adore Winter. Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons, followed quickly by Spring.

What about Summer, you ask? Its my least favorite. I hibernate in summer because I just wilt in the heat. I'm a mountain girl, I like it cool. I adored Romance Writers of America National this year in lovely, cool San Francisco. Ahhhhh.

(Usually, I dread National because I have to dress up and be professional in the heat. And summer RWA in DALLAS? There are not enough fans and AC made to make that bearable. Urg.)

Okay, that's off track. Back to Winter and snow. Snow!!! I so want it to snow, snow, snow. It's been sleeting, we got a mild ice storm on Tuesday - bleech on ice storms - and we've had a dusting of flurries, but no snow. Where is it? It's 32 degrees farenheit. C'mon!!!

Blame global warming or the melting glaciers or something, but personally I am going to indulge in a serious pout.

I want to sled, and make forts (I think I'll make it a bit bigger than the one pictured with the cats!) and have a wicked, wild, crazy snowball fight with my sons. I want to throw the snowballs into the air and get the dogs to chase them. Back in '96, just prior to my move to DC I got caught in a blizzard in Virginia. (I lived in NC at the time) It was an absolute blast. I was at a dog show and there were about twenty of us stuck in the hotel along with a skeleton hotel staff, a night manager who'd been on when they shut the major roads, and a whole lot of dogs, large and small, who were ready to have a blast in the snow.

Have a blast we did. We built snow forts and snowball fights with perfect strangers who quickly became allies or enemies over the walls of two, four-foot-high forts. Snow diving by the dogs - Dalmatians - quickly became a game of spot-the-spots. Trust me, it's REALLY hard to see a Dalmatian in the snow! If you don't believe me, check out this YouTube video of Bailey, whom I believe is a Dal crossbreed. :> You'll LOL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUL0KCIc48

That same year, I'm told, there was cross-country skiing on the mall in DC. The monuments were all snowbound and my friend, also with Dalmatians, loosed her dogs on Capitol hill to romp in the snow. A LARGE time was had by all. She has pictures of them running up and down the capitol steps. Wheeeee!

I also want to see my new dog, Diver, the Irish Water Spaniel (IWS) in the snow. A fellow IWS afficianado, Jeremy Kezer took these fabulous pictures of his girls, Fiona and Selchie, in the Massachusetts snow right before Christmas. (Maybe I should move to Massachusetts. After all, the Adamses are originally from Boston...and they had snow BEFORE Christmas.) IWS don't care if it's wet, cold, snowing or sleeting. If there's play to be had, they are THERE. Grins. They are a fabulous fun breed and I am loving being an IWS-mom. Ha! BTW, you can check out more wonderful pix of Jeremy and Kim's dogs here: http://www.chanticoiws.com/index.html (Jeremy was kind enough to give me permission to use these cool shots. If you'd like to see more of his work, check out www.jeremykezer.com)

Anyway, I want to play with my kids and dogs in deep, wonderful fluffy snow. The real stuff. I know Banditas Tawny, Kirsten and Susan had snow at the holiday, as did many others. Alas, DC had none. (Can you tell I'm pouting again?) The saving grace here is that the "real" winter in DC doesn't start until February. President's Day snowstorms are common. Snow for the Ides of March? Oh, yeah. Then, like flipping a switch, April becomes Spring and before you know it, it's hotter than a...well, let's use a phrase I first heard in a little store in my North Carolina hometown:

DC in Summer is hot as the devil's doorknocker. (Do I need to mention hibernation again? No, didn't think so.)

So what's all this got to do with writing?

Nothing.

HAHAHA. Just kidding. In some of the best stories I've ever read, the weather, the seasons and even the landscape play a huge part in how the character's feel, how the story evolves, and even the ways in which the author twists the tale to heighten the emotions of the characters. Nothing like a good blizzard or wicked storm to throw your hero and heroine together. Then again, nothing like a good stormy power outage or icy roads to heighten the fear when the villain is on the loose either!

What's the best book you've ever read where the weather played a part? Any good snowbound books? Any good ice storm books? Are you writing one where the weather plays a part? Or, better yet, are you looking forward to a storm to get some writing DONE? Ha!

Since it's nice and cold and I can mail chocolates without them melting...I'll pick a random winner to get a box of Godiva! And that's S'no joke