Girls nite out - Sangria and great times

The last couple of weeks have been great in all respects - greatly stressful, greatly peaceful (paradoxical, I know), greatly emotional, greatly interesting, greatly rewarding, and the most important - greatly fun.

And it's thanks to the girlies in my life that I can add the last one. A few weeks back, we finally made time to go out together. It was Archana's birthday and we all ended up at Hawaiian Shack, and with a few drinks inside us, we danced and sang the night away to retro numbers. It was a fantastic night as you can see by our smiles:

Nisha, Me, Archana, Akshata and Grazielia

So last night we had the pleasure of visiting Archana's beautiful apartment. I wish I'd taken my camera, I really do. She's decorated the place with fabulous shades of greeny-blue and chocolate brown, and her mum's handpainted bottles decorate the small, but fantastic balcony. Not only does Archana have the perfect place, but she's also the hostess with the most-ess!

As we arrived, we were greeted with Sangria (I know we typically associate Sangria with summer and I know it's freezing cold and snowing across most of the world right now, but it's still warm in Mumbai!) and nibbles... Large, sweet purple grapes with salty green olives and creamy, peppery cheese made a wonderful combination that hit all the right notes...

A few more glasses of Sangria later and Archana stepped it up a notch with a beautifully creamy yet crunchy salad, with a roast chicken version for the non-veggies amongst us (I love that Indian phrase - 'Non-Veg').

After a couple of raucous hands of Uno later, we got down to the main course (yup.. that was after me polishing off most of the grapes & olives and two bowls of salad) of spaghetti with courgette (zucchini) and babycorn topped with a home-made cheese sauce - this woman knows how to entertain & how to cook...I'm now a little worried - if the girlies come to my place, I'll hand them the take out menus!

I'm not gonna try and compete with Archana's wonderful food... I'll get the recipes from her and put them up for the rest of the world to enjoy. In the meantime, I thought we'd have a boozy theme of the day. It's so warm here that Sangria is a wonderful drink to sip on a lazy Sunday afternoon, whereas I know there's been snow back home (England...I do miss the cold sometimes, but not the grey, blustery, miserable days) and that puts me in mind of Mulled Wine - the perfect winter warmer when it's got dark early, and there's snow outside. The best bit is they're both based on a good bottle of red wine :D

Sangria - fruity, red wine punch

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1 bottle of red wine
Splash of OJ
1 large lemon, chopped into wedges and de-seeded (coz nobody likes seeds in their drink!)
1 Orange, cut into slices and/or wedges and again, de-seeded
A tablespoon or two of sugar (to taste)
Some club soda (how much you add will determine how light your drink is)

1. Pop the wine in a big jug with the OJ, fruit and sugar. Stick in the fridge and leave overnight.
2. Just before serving, add the club soda.
3. Serve with ice

There are soooooooooooo many variations of this fruity punch... other fruit can work wonderfully, like grapes and apples, or berries - but add these fruit just before serving, otherwise they'll turn mushy. Many recipes call for a shot or two of brandy, gin or triple sec...If you're using this add it at step 1. Other people swear by adding ginger ale instead of club soda.

Mulled Wine - a nicely, spicy warming drink best enjoyed on a cold, dark evening

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Well, I'm gonna hand this one over to my mate, Jamie.
Jamie's quite adept at this food and drink malarky and his Mulled Wine recipe is wonderful.



The night was sooooo badly needed as I'm currently going through one of those 'Interesting Times' in life - I'll spare you all the details. I just wanted to say one last 'Thank You' to Akshata, Archana, Grazielia and Nisha - for being sooooooo wonderful and making it more manageable to live through this 'Interesting Time'.

May you live in Interesting Times...