Hello again欢迎来到Happy Hour英文小酒馆。关注公众号璐璐的英文小酒馆，加入我们的酒馆社群，邂逅更精彩更广阔的世界。

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Happy Hour.欢迎回来酒馆。

Today even though it's not Britain under the microscope, we still have 安澜in the studio. Welcome back 安澜。

You just couldn't get rid of me.

I'm not trying.

Today we're going to talk about something very interesting and very much in keep with what has been happening recently, in Beijing, and I think in the most parts of northern China, there is going to be a cold snap就是有一个寒潮。So the temperature is definitely going to drop significantly.

Yeah, that's why I'm still in the studio.

And are you ready for a harsh winter?

To be honest, with Beijing, I kind of used to it a little bit, you know you got the wind, but at least it's heating inside, so it is not too bad.

Yeah, it's really warm in the studio.

Exactly.

Would you say that winter is a season that you like or…

It's a season I like in Beijing, I like the fact that yeah it's really cold in Beijing but generally there's a lot blue skies, it's very light. In London, on the other hand, I'm not a big fan of winter, it's quite cold, it's very gray…

It's wet.

It's wet…

It’s a bit miserable.

It's very short days as well.

You know, with winter I actually don't mind because we have heating, and with winter a lot of these adjectives that I love, warm, cozy.

Snug.

Toasty.

Oh yeah.

All of these words basically means comfortable and warm.

Yeah exactly, that's one of the great things about winter is the fact that you can just curl up on the sofa, you can watch stuff on TV, have a hot drink, have a hot meal, to me that is what winter is.

Yeah, I know it sounds horrible, but I love the feeling when there's really heavy snow, even blizzard outside, but I'm inside, all snug and toasty.

Exactly, I used to feel the same in London if it was raining really hard just being inside.

So you might be wondering if we're going to just talk about weather in this episode, but actually we're gonna talk about food and drink.

Yes.

Every winter I put on weight, I think same to most people…

I think that's pretty much the same as everyone in the world really.

And sometimes I have to work out more just to sort of prepare for that winter weight.

Yeah.

So let's talk about wintery food and wintery drink.

Ok, sounds good.

So 安澜, when I ask you about wintery food, what comes to mind.

Not salad .

So miserable to eat cold salad…

Yeah, you don’t want to eat salads, you don't want to eat fruit that much. You kind of want something that's a bit hearty, you want something that's a bit meaty, warm as well. That's the type of food I crave in winter.

Like stew?

Like stews, I would say my comfort food for winter is things like steak and ale pie.

You do have a lot of pies I think that’s also because you have very long and wet winter.

Oh, yeah, and pies are just such a nice thing to eat in winter.

There’s carbs, there's fat, there's protein, everything, very savory. Steak and ale pie, 就是牛肉啤酒派。

Yeah, but there’s always lots of other different types of pies as well.

You do have a lot of pies, and actually in the West, you also have things like Casserole.

Casserole就有点像我们的那种砂锅乱炖。The difference is you would put the casserole dish in the oven.

Yeah, that's right. And also things like Gratin as well, so kind of cheese and cream melted on potatoes.

Oh, so not just potatoes, I think different vegetables, 这种奶油焗菜, very, very typical the western wintery comfort food. You mentioned your comfort food, I talked to James about his comfort food, for him is cheese, cheese, and more cheese.

Yeah, cheese is always good.

But when you go around the world, any part of the world that has harsh winters, they have their own version of wintery food.

Yeah, so for example: Goulash.

Goulash is Hungarian, isn't it？是匈牙利的一个国菜相当于。

Yeah, Goulash is from Hungary. But it's in many central European countries, it's just basically a stew really. It's beef, a little bit of pork, potatoes and paprika as well, it's quite popular.

Maybe carrots?

Yeah, lots of vegetables, pretty much anything you can find, you can trhow into Goulash.

Every time I think of Goulash, I think it's just another version of our stew. I cook a really good beef stew.

Yes, I know, I’ve tried it a few times.

Every times I invite people over to my place, especially it's winter, I always cook a large pot of this beef stew, put lots of vegetables in, but lots of good beef, and then you just let it stew for hours.

Yeah.

I think one thing I love about stew is the aroma slowly comes out when you are cooking it for hours.

Yeah, it was like for example, Tagine from Morocco. That's a very wintry food because it's just slow cooked beef or lamb that's cooked for a very, very long time with… I think it’s cumin, cinnamon...

Lots of spices.

Lots of spices.

I think a lot of our audience might not have heard of Tagine. Tagine中文好像叫塔吉或者叫塔津。It's called that because of the pot they used to cook this dish in叫塔吉锅。It's a really weird shape, it's like a tent or like a pyramid.

Yeah, it's like a hat really.

It's like a hat, great. And then because of the shape, it keeps the meat really tender and moist. I have a Tagine pot.

Oh, yes.

I love it, I absolutely love Tagine.

I have to admit, said about James and how much he loves cheese, we did talk about Fondue and Raclette.

When we were talking about Switzerland, 就是瑞士的芝士火锅叫做Fondue, and melted cheese on everything else that's called Raclette.

I don't know, cheese is so versatile for me. Winter, it can be a wintery food, it can also be a summer wine party food.

Yeah, I think we talked enough about foods, I think it's time to go onto the drinks, what do you think?

Well, let me just take a sip of my drink right now.

Can you guess what I'm drinking, and also what I served 安澜 as well？We're drinking mulled wine. I mentioned this a few times in the show, Mulled wine就是热红酒。

The reason why it’s called mulled is…

With spices, you put lots and lots of spices in the wine.

When you say spices you don't mean spicy, right, not spicy.

No, spices as things like cinnamon as well go into it. It's a little bit sweet but it's quite strong flavor.

就是各种各样的香料，特别是肉桂。I don't know how to describe it, I think you have to taste it.

You have to taste it, but it's also a really popular drink in Europe, especially in Germany.

They call it Glühwein.

Glühwein.

And it's somehow related to Christmas?

Yeah, it’s seen as a traditional drink in Europe around Christmas time. So if you go to Christmas markets in Europe or even in the UK as well, it’s quite common to find mulled wine.

Are those open air, like outdoors Christmas market when everyone's wearing very thick jackets or down jacket, everyone's holding this warm drink, this mulled wine, very festive imagery.

Yes, it is.

Aside from mulled wine, you got Hot Toddy as well.

Hot Toddy, it was whiskey, isn't it?

It's whiskey, a little bit of water with honey and also spices.

In Beijing or Shanghai, lots of bars in winter they would serve Hot Toddy as well.

Yeah.

Hot toddy, last time I read about it, it's also used in some sort of home remedy, so it's not just a cocktail drink. It's also to cure you of a cold or flu.

Yeah, if you got a cold or flu, it was quite common to do, and it still is, to make yourself a Hot Toddy. So whiskey, a little bit of honey, and you drink that before you go to bed.

And you sleep it off, it's very much like our hot ginger soup.就跟中国喝姜汤是一个原理。

When I'm ill, if I got a cold or a flu, that's what I make 姜汤 with whiskey.

So it's like a Chinese Hot Toddy.

It's a Chinese Hot Toddy, and it really is very, very, very nice.

And is it useful?

I stopped caring about my cold.

Great.

Talking about hot drinks, another hot cocktail is Hot Buttered Rum.叫热黄油或者叫黄油热朗姆。Every time I think about this, somehow, I think of Butter Beer in Harry Potter, but it's not the same thing, this is a mixture containing rum, butter, hot water or cider, and again various spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloth. It's also a holiday drink.

Yeah, it is. I've already tried it myself. I don’t think it's really drunk that much in the UK. Generally, if we want a wintery drink, we might go for Irish coffee.

Irish coffee is just a way to drink alcohol but pretend you're drinking coffee, isn't it?

Well, it is coffee, but with Irish whiskey, sugar and topped with cream.

Yeah, again, like I said, it's like trying to appear to be drinking coffee but secretly you're hiding Irish whiskey in it.

Pretty much.

I don't know how would you drink Irish coffee, because you have the coffee, you have the drink, when do you drink it? in the morning?

Well, I wouldn't drink it in the morning, I think if you start drinking Irish coffee in the morning, you might have a little bit of a problem, we would drink it after meals.

And of course, some people drink a hot chocolate or hot coco before they go to bed.

Yeah, absolutely.

Miss Marple would do it.

There you go.

And to finish off, let us share with you an expression called have a night cap.

Yes, so have a night cap, it just means to have one small drink before you go to bed.

Night cap is the cap that you wear to go to sleeping这个睡帽。

Well, it used to be, I don't think many people wear night caps anymore, but yeah it just means have a night cap just means have a quick drink before going to bed.

So I would say mulled wine we can use mulled wine as a nightcap.

Yeah, but it is a little bit early for me to go to bed, but I'm sure I have a few more mulled wine before bedtime.

Exactly, so have a nightcap on our behalf tonight. It can be alcoholic, non-alcoholic, but we highly recommend the mulled wine.

And wherever you are, hope you stay warm.

And snug and cozy and toasty. Later guys, and share with us in the comment section what is your go to wintery food or drink? Thank you 安澜for coming to the show, we'll see you next time.

Bye

Bye