Quick mulled wine recipe

Another grey Seattle day. The rainy season in Seattle isn't great but it does offer a good reason to drink coffee, tea and pretty much anything hot.

My parents picked up a taste for Glühwein (mulled wine) in Germany at some point. I've noticed that a lot of Americans have never even tried it and they don't know what they're missing. You can buy spice bags to make it but here's a quick n' easy way.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 mug Red wine (don't waste a good one, it has to be vaguely drinkable but that's about it)
• 2 whole cloves
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1/3 mug orange juice
• Sugar to taste

Mix everything except the sugar. Microwave to piping hot - but do not let it boil. Fish out the cinnamon stick and the cloves with a teaspoon or other suitable implement. Add sugar (about 2 tsp for my wife, 1 to 1/2 for me).

To serve: drink looking out a window at miserable weather being glad you're not in it.

I visited Berlin before the Wall fell and saw people buying and knocking back mugs of this stuff from street vendors on the way to work - apparently this isn't unusual. Each to their own, I suppose.