Potter's practicing today on the pitch. In this weather! Ha! And he has my exam to study for tonight – if he has any sense at all. Potter, sense...! By now I know that's a pipe dream. Of course he wouldn't dare envy me in any way, but warm and dry am I, in my laboratory. They can have that Quidditch foolishness.The rains have returned to Portland, as I'm sure they have to England as well. Solid, sopping gray all day, an exercise in leaping puddles with a cat's grace, and angling an umbrella into the driving wind to prevent instant parabolic reversal. The season of clogged street drains. Dark at 4:30pm. Now inside, Glenn Miller lends a cheerful nostalgic air through the magic music box. It is a fine sort of evening for a soft robe, a thick tome and a hot drink. I have instant chai, peppermint coffee... how about a potion:
Mood-Enhancing Wassail Brew
(21- & 21+ versions)
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 tsp. St. John's Wort herb flowers
1 tsp. Damiana herb leaves
4 apples, roasted & mashed (or pulp)
2 1/4 pints strong ale
brown sugar (add to taste)
21- version: use cider or root beer instead of ale and omit sugar.
Roast apples (425°F), remove skins and cores, & mash them. Heat the ale, or other "liquid base", and add apple pulp. Stir in spices and sugar to taste. Add herbs and steep for ten minutes minimum (use tea strainer if the idea of loose herbs in your brew turns you off). Serve very hot.
Mind-Brightening Tea
2 tsp. St. John's Wort
1 tsp. Rosemary
1 tsp. Ginseng
8 oz./250ml/1 cup Water
Boil water; remove from heat, add herbs. Steep minimum of ten minutes; strain and drink.
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