For your holiday pleasure

Back in Effingham there is a foreign exchange student from Verona, Italy who apparently thinks rather highly of me. His parents arrived in the U.S. the other day and he wants nothing more than for me to meet them. On my part, I am looking forward to meeting them and will leave for Effingham in just a few minutes to join them for dinner.

Before I go, though, I wanted to share with you a recipe I found for a hot wassail in one of my favorite cookbooks: Hawaii's Favorite Pineapple Recipes. I picked it up at the Dole Plantation during my last visit. If couldn't be simpler to make and it's very tasty, especially during this time of year.

The wassail includes the following ingredients:

4 cups unsweetened apple juice
3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup cranberry juice cocktail
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves

Combine the ingredients in a pot and simmer for about 10 minutes until hot. Stain the wassail into mugs and top with a slice of lemon.

I served it last night at a meeting and again today at lunch. I've not yet heard any complaints about it.